An Unlikely Rivalry
by Tempokeep
Summary: Amourshipping. High School AU. In the final year at Anistar High, a new student joins Serena's friend group. Although more than just a new friend might be joining...
1. The Beginning of the End

An Unlikely Rivalry

Chapter 1: The beginning of the end

 **I'm pretty excited to start this off, so let's just get right into it. More at the end.**

* * *

A bird took flight from the kitchen windowsill. It flew around for a bit, trying to sense it's location, then swooped into the room above the kitchen, on the second floor.

The Pokémon then landed on top of the sleeping girl, and looked down at her. It started to peck at her, then stopped. It then walked over to her head, and proceeded to bounce on her a few times. With those few bounces, the girl woke up. As she got up, the bird perched itself on the desk next to the girl's bed.

The girl looked over at the bird. "Good morning, Fletchling."

"Fletchling!" The bird called back.

The girl started to move toward the bathroom to do her morning routine. She was interrupted by shouting from downstairs. "Serena! Breakfast is ready! You're gonna be late!"

Serena, genuinely upset she was accused of oversleeping shouted back, "I'm coming mom! I still have like 30 minutes before you need to leave!"

Serena was going to Anistar High, one of the most prestigious schools in all of Kalos. It seemed as more and more people would flow into the Kalos Region every year, just to send their kids there.

Serena came downstairs, ready to go with the exception of eating. She grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat down. Her mom sat down at the table as well. "So, Serena, are you excited for your final year?"

The girl thought. "Well, it's going to be really great for a chance to see the world after this, but I don't really want to leave. It's a pretty great place."

Her mom nodded. "There will always be time to see your friends, even if you're all at college."

"I hope so," Serena relied.

The conversation was interrupted with a honk on a car horn outside, conveniently as soon as she was done her cereal. I guess things work out, don't they? "Hurry up, Serena, that's your ride."

Serena picked up her stuff. "I'm ready. Bye mom!" Serena said, basically out the door.

"Don't forget to call every once in a while!"

Serena walked out the door to a beautiful day in late summer. There were a few clouds in the sky, and the sun was shining. Serena walked down her driveway into the car that was in front of the house. A girl sitting at the driver's seat was there to greet her. "Morning Serena!"

Serena smiled at her. "Morning, Shauna! Are you excited for your final year?"

Shauna replied, "You bet! I'm just so glad we can pick roommates as seniors. I don't think I could have stood another year with _Misty._ "

Serena laughed. "I still think it's a wonder you got put with her the first three years."

Shauna groaned. "I think it's a wonder I didn't kill her."

They both laughed and talked more for the rest of the way to Anistar City. It was much shorter time than walking, but it was still a large amount of time on the road. I mean it's almost halfway across the region, probably more.

* * *

When they both finally made it to Anistar High, they saw two girls sitting on the bench. The two got out of the car and walked over to them. "What are you two doing? We said we'd be late, so you could go in without us."

The one girl, wearing a red bandanna and fanny pack said, "Well, if you didn't know, seniors have to have all four members of the room present to sign in. Glad you could make it before it got too dark."

Shauna sighed. "Sorry, May. I guess we needed to show up earlier."

The other girl, with blue hair, mentioned, "I guess it's good we showed up a day early."

The four of them went into the room registration facility. The lady there looked up. "Good morning you four. You here to register?"

May answered for them. "Yes, but we couldn't quite see what room we are getting. The site didn't say anything like it typically does."

The lady looked at the registration papers. "Oh, yes. You four are actually going to be in a special five-person room this year. We have a new student showing up for the last year. She's a transfer from Oreburgh High. e figured you four would be a good roommate to have as you are all such great students."

"Please," Shauna laughed. "Just because Miette's basically already the valedictorian doesn't mean that we are all good students!"

Miette got slightly red. "Aw, stop it. If someone's coming from Oreburgh we can't be sure. That's a really great school, isn't it?"

The lady looked at Miette. "It's certainly not as great as ours." She gave Miette a wink. A really obvious one. Like, really obvious. "Anyway, here are everyone's keys. Don't lose them!"

"We won't!" They all replied.

"Oh! One more thing," The lady said as they were walking out. "Serena, your schedule basically matches hers for the first quarter. Could you help her out?"

"Sure!" Serena replied enthusiastically.

* * *

The room was absolutely spectacular. The beds were made perfectly, everything was pristine. The beds were arranged against the wall, with the foot of each bed facing the middle. There were two smaller windows at the end of each side, and one large window in the middle that could overlook half the campus. "According to the room details," Miette started, "This room was made for some sort of elitist council from 20 years ago. The council was made up of students who did service to the school. Three of them teach at the school, uh, now."

They all spent a bit of time speculating who the teachers were. They all talked also about what each of their breaks were like. "So Shauna," May asked, "Did you do anything with Trevor over summer break?"

Shauna got a little red, although she had no need to. The two have been dating for around two and a half years, and everyone thought they were cute together. Even Misty. "Well, he lives pretty far away, so we didn't do a lot. We went to a fair or two, and watched Master Class together."

"Oh really?" Serena enthusiastically asked, "You saw it live? How was it?"

The two had already agreed to be competing rivals once they graduated. Serena and Shauna have been taking a few extra-curricular lessons for the past two years to improve their abilities as performers. "It was pretty cool, really. This newcomer, her name was Jessilee, I think, she got second place overall. She's very impressive, considering it was her first showcase season."

"Guess the competition will be tough when you get there," May said. The two girls nodded. May then took a turn, so her eyes met Serena's. "Don't think we forgot about you, Serena."

"What?" Serena asked, already knowing exactly where this was going. They taunted her about it nearly every day.

"Did you do anything with Ash over break?" They all almost asked at the same time. (synchronization at its finest)

"Guys, Ash lives in Kanto in the summer. Nothing, that could've happened, would happen."

Miette spoke up. "Impressive question dodge. Where'd you learn that? Ash's Pikachu?" Everyone laughed at this comment, except for Serena.

"Guys, stop! We aren't dating, and it won't happen! He's too dense to figure out anything anyway." Serena became sad, contrary to her typical enthusiastic self.

"Well," May started, "Would you think he'd be too dense if someone, I don't know, blatantly told him?"

"You _what_?"

May laughed. "Only kidding. But seriously, it's your last year here. Your last chance. Maybe you should do something about it."

Serena nodded. "I think I might. It, just, doesn't seem like he likes me back."

Shauna put her hand on Serena's shoulder. "We'll help you out, ok? I think he's just too dense to know anything, really. Come on, let's get unpacked."

As they were unpacking, they heard a knock on the door. "Hi, it's me again." They deduced that it was the lady from room registration. They opened the door, welcoming her. "I'm glad you all found the room alright. With all the room stuff to figure out for you four, I completely forgot to check in your Pokemon. You all brought one, right?"

Starting from junior year, everyone was allowed one Pokemon to keep with them. "I have mine!" Serena said, tossing out a Fennikin.

One by one, each of the four sent out their chosen Pokemon. May had a Beautifly, Miette, a Slurpuff, and Shauna had brought a Bulbasaur. The lady started to write down which Pokemon belonged to which trainer, so in case of bad circumstances, everyone knew who belonged to who. "Alright, done! That should be all I need. Now, you are some of the many people here early today, so dinner is being served at the dining hall. Oh, and your roommate contacted us, telling us that she would be here tomorrow at 7am. Please make sure you are all awake."

"Will do! Thanks!" Shauna spoke for the room.

The lady left, and the door closed. "Well, girls, it's us for this year. No Misty, no one to cause trouble. No-"

"We get it Shauna, you hate Misty," Miette said.

"How can you not? Not only did she try hitting on Trevor- twice, but she also tried to ruin Serena's chance with Ash over the summer!"

This got Serena's attention. "What? What did she do?"

"Well," Shauna started in a very annoyed and angry voice, "She tried dissing our friend group completely. She claimed she was 'so much better than us' and if anyone should be helping out this new girl, it's her, not us, because this girl has a Piplup, and we all know Misty is the 'best water type trainer in the world'. Because hardly anyone who's here lives in Kanto over the summer, Ash and Gary got the brunt of her 'gossip' (she had very heavy air quotes for this one). She tried starting rumors about you, Serena, but Gary stopped them." Shauna took a big inhale, then sighed, out of breath from her small rant.

"Rumors?" Was the only question Serena could get to. "What rumors?"

"To be honest," Shauna said. "I don't know. Ash was talking to Trevor about it, that's how I figured it out."

"What did Ash think of what Misty was saying?" Serena asked, desperate for answers.

"He said something along the lines of, 'I didn't believe her for a second', but he kinda just let it happen. Sometime around August, him and Gary stopped her because they were just annoyed."

"I guess that's a bit of a relief," Serena said, stressed about what she just heard still.

"Don't say anything about this," Shauna went on. "This is now dirt I have on her, don't take this away from me."

"Ok," Miette said. "We won't interfere with your unusual and relatively scary hatred for this girl."

They all laughed. May looked at the clock. "Alright, let's go to dinner. Maybe we'll see someone there from before."

Serena stopped May while she was putting her coat on. "Now, May, it would have been insensitive to have forgotten about you and Drew!"

May turned red. "We're just friends I swear!"

The four of them walked down to dinner, teasing May about Drew. They had a wonderful time at dinner, and made it back to their room some time around 9pm. Pretty tired from move in day, they all went to bed quickly.

* * *

"Guys, it's like 6:15. We need to get up for that new girl." Miette said sleepily.

One by one, each of them rolled out of their beds. Serena, being the heaviest sleeper, came out last. She wandered around, thinking of all the places she'd show this new girl today, to make her ready for the first day of classes the next day. She stopped at the window, looking outside. _I wonder what Ash is doing_ , she thought.

A knock was heard on the door, as soon as they were all done getting ready. I guess things work out, don't they? "I got it!" Serena shouted. She went to the door, and opened it up. The girl looked up, shyly. She was wearing a blue shirt, and black leggings with white shorts on top. She had a white backpack on, which surprisingly went really well with her top. In her arms was a Piplup.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Verity. I think I'm staying here this year."

* * *

 **I forgot how tedious intro chapters can be, and all the plot I have to establish, and all the background. I guess I never did that in _Him_. Maybe that's why it failed. Huh**

 **The Secret Mega should be out now. Check out that, and my other stories, I guess. This fic will be updated two times every three weeks, so every one and a half weeks.**

 **If you've ready my writing before, I like to be (or try to be) funny at very unconventional times. If you don't like that, I'll try and control it.**

 **Let me know what you thought, and I hope to have some comments to reply to in Chapter 2. Chapter 2 will be almost the same time as when this ended, timeline speaking. So see you there, I guess.**


	2. The Answer

Chapter 2: The Answer

 **Woah, slow down kids.**

 **So I got two reviews so far at the time of writing this. I'd like to answer them, because I don't feel they were, well, the nicest things on the planet.**

 **From: Guest**

 **Stop it please. After they abrupting ending of HIM, how can you expect people to believe you can finish this story?**

 **Well, I can completely accept Him was bad. It was just too inaccurate and had too many plot holes to actually finish. I actually know what I'm doing this time(or so I think), but I think you are being pretty pessimistic about this.**

 **From: St Elmo's Fire**

 **I'm not putting this review down, it was too long but my reply should give you the gist of what was said.**

 **I'm not a perfect writer. I do try on my chapters, and I think you overlook how difficult writing a story is without any support from any reviewers whatsoever. If I make grammar mistakes, but it's still readable, I don't think it's a big deal. I've read a lot worse chapters in other stories, grammatically. Thanks for considering.**

 **With that chaos out of the way, let's get going, finally.**

* * *

Chapter 2: The Answer

She stopped at the window, looking outside. _I wonder what Ash is doing_ , she thought.

What was he doing?

* * *

"Come on, Gary, step on it!"

"Relax, Ash," Gary replied, "We still have at least an hour."

The two overslept, well, specifically, Ash overslept. They were almost back at Anistar High for their final year. Sitting in one cup holder was a pokeball, with Gary's Blastoise in it. Pikachu was on top of the seat Ash was in. "Hey, Gary. I have a question," Ash said, relatively blatantly.

Gary looked over at him, keeping one eye on the road of course. Safety is always a priority. "What, Ashy-boy? I'm trying to drive, and it's early. It would have been earlier had you not overslept." Gary then smiled sarcastically at Ash. "Your question, sir?"

Ash looked at him. Gary noticed his look, and kind of figured where this was going. "Do you think they have battle classes for seniors?"

Gary was taken aback, as that was not the question he thought he'd hear, nonetheless this early. "Ash, are you kidding? It's way too early for anything like that. I'm sure they do, we're the best school in the region, probably the world. I thought you were going down a different path on the 'question' thing."

Ash was confused. "What do you mean, Gary?"

"Well," Gary started, "I thought you were going to ask about Serena."

"Why would I ask about Serena?"

"Because you obviously have a crush on her."

"What makes you say that?" asked Ash, now very confused.

"You are either studying, which you never do, battling, sleeping, or spending time with her. I bet you talked every night while we were on break."

Ash thought. He never really broke down his schedule. He realized most of his junior year classes were the same as hers, and at the same times. Additionally, they had a chemistry study group, because Chemistry 3 was the worst class anyone has taken at Anistar High. Even Miette said it was a pain. "I think the only think we did together was study for Kill-me-stry 3. Sorry you were so great at that class." Kill-me-stry was the name of everyone's least favorite class. Maybe the teacher was just bad. Huh.

Gary laughed. "Chemistry is a world that leads you to greatness, Ashy-boy. But didn't you guys hang out _after_ those study groups?"

Ash nodded slowly and sarcastically. "With everyone else, Gary. I don't know what you're going at. I think you're obsessed with something that probably won't happen. And for the record, we didn't all at all over break. I don't think I even have her number."

"Probably? What's that mean, Ash?"

"It means I never doubt anything, you closed-minded buffoon."

"I think I'm gonna give this a rest," Gary said. "It's too early to try and get this information. But anyway, if you are looking for advice, the number is step one to success."

Ash was now completely bewildered. "Step one to what?"

Gary laughed. "I'm surprised you didn't handle chemistry well. You seem to be great at density."

* * *

The two finally pulled up. Trevor and Clemont were waiting there for them. "Hey guys!" Trevor shouted, waving.

"You didn't get our room?" Gary asked impatiently.

"We need all four of us, smarty," Trevor quickly retorted.

"Wow, what a fun year this will be," Clemont sighed.

They quickly registered for their room, registered their Pokemon, and left. It took much less time, as there would only be four of them. Getting there and unpacked also took less time, as it was done quickly and carelessly. "Wow, all that hard work made me hungry. Let's get lunch," Ash said.

"Ash, it's only been 20 minutes. None of us had anything to truly unpack," Clemont said.

"Yeah," Ash replied, "but we should go see people, maybe others are down there."

"You know what? Why don't we go?" Trevor offered. "It's been a while since I've seen Shauna. Maybe she'll be down there."

All of them walked down to the dining hall together. They grabbed their food, and sat down, looking around.

"Clemont, what do you say?" Ash asked.

"Eh, Why not?" Clemont responded.

* * *

The four all made it to the dining hall, got their food, and sat down. Trevor looked around for Shauna, but didn't see her. They actually saw no one they really knew too well, or at least anyone they wanted to speak to that they knew. Sometime during the meal, a group of girls, Gary counted 5, walked down to the dining hall. "Are you kidding me?" Gary said quietly. "They're always in groups. How am I supposed to corner down just one?"

"Maybe," Clemont said jokingly, "When you actually corner one, you have to ask them out, or the opportunity completely passes forever."

Everyone laughed at that one. Clemont rarely made jokes, but when he did, they were great. (PSA: Just because you don't think the jokes are funny doesn't mean the characters don't. Shove off now.) Trevor looked over at the group of five, got out of his seat, and ran over. "Shauna!" He shouted.

This caught Shauna by surprise, but a pleasant surprise. "Trevor!" she called back.

The two ran and hugged each other. It actually was pretty cute, which sparked all of the aww's from everyone. Even Gary, but that one was pretty sarcastic. The two walked off and started talking about what they did over break. That was the last they were seen for pretty much the whole day.

Gary then noticed someone that wasn't always in Shauna's group. "Who-"

"Oh wow!" May shouted. "This is really great that you guys are down here. Verity, this Ash, Gary, and Clemont. We've known them all for quite a while. The last person you saw was Trevor, who is Shauna's boyfriend."

"Yeah, I think I heard about him," Verity responded quietly.

"Why don't you guys actually introduce yourselves?" Serena suggested.

Gary jumped up. "I'm Gary, the best battler in the school. Also my gramp's the professor in Kanto. I haven't met anyone else who has such greatly occupied parents!" He sat down, pleased with his small bragging session.

Verity looked at him shyly, but with a little bit of edge. "Um, actually, my mother is the Sinnoh Champion."

"What?" Ash yelled. "The Sinnoh Champion? Cynthia?"

It was the first time Verity got to see someone who actually was genuinely impressed at this fact. Most people just shoved it off, or didn't believe her. What a breath of fresh air.

Serena now looked up, shyly at the three remaining boys, specifically focusing on Ash. "Uh, hi Ash. I guess we haven't seen each other for a while."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, too long. You didn't try to contact me at all? I told you I'd be at Oak's lab over the summer, and helping out with his summer camp."

Serena took a step back. "Uh, Ash, I, uh, don't have your, number."

Ash thought for a minute, then laughed. "Oh. Guess that creates a problem, doesn't it?" He gave her his classic, 'everything's ok' smile.

Serena laughed. "Yeah, I guess." She couldn't stay mad at him for that long, that was nonsense, something he didn't think through. But why was he upset that she never contacted him? Was he trying to keep conversation, or was he truly upset they never talked over break? Was now the time to actually answer that question? Serena knew none of those answers, except the last one. She concluded in her head that now was not the time to get those answers. Now was the time to escape what was now a very awkward situation. "Hey, Verity, let's go see what else the campus has. I'll show you where your classes will be."

Verity turned her attention to Serena. "That'd be great. Thank you so much!" She seemed much happier now for some reason.

* * *

"And this is the battleground. I don't know if your into battling, but there's always junior or seniors looking for opponents to learn from. It's pretty cool to watch some of these battles. Ash does them a lot," Serena said, excited to show off the school.

Verity nodded. "I battle occasionally, but not as much as those boys we met probably do." She hesitated on her next question. "That Ash kid, is he your, you know, your-"

"Oh, no! We're just friends! Nothing there!" Serena said, now very red and flustered.

"Nothing. Nothing _yet,"_ Miette chimed in.

"Stop guys!" Serena said, even more flustered now. "We don't need to suck Verity into my large pit of despair."

May laughed. "Serena, you only have so much time left. Consider us well, motivation!"

Verity laughed, a first for the group. "I tried teasing one of my friends about their crush once. I'm not good at teasing people, so it didn't go great. But I'm always willing to try new things!"

Serena groaned. "I thought you would be different, Verity."

Verity laughed again. "I am different. The difference is I don't have all the information on this yet."

Miette and May said, freakishly, at the same time, "We can handle that!" The two proceeded to laugh at their synchronization. Miette continued, "Although, Verity, it looks like Gary took quite the interest in you. Did you see how eager he was to introduce himself?"

May looked over at Miette. "Miette! You know Gary like to brag about himself to anyone. And besides, Verity had Piplup with her. Gary will go for anyone with a water type starter like him. Remember when he tried to get Dawn?"

Miette fired back, "Remember how quickly he gave up?"

Serena pulled the two apart. "How about we give that some time. Verity doesn't need to worry about that now."

Verity spoke up. "I really don't. Thank you, Serena."

* * *

"Ash, are you kidding me?"

"What, Gary?" Ash responded, confused again.

"The opportunity presented itself, and you ignored it. What if what Clemont said was accurate?"

"I can hear you, Gary, and it was a joke," said Clemont, trying to sleep.

"What are you even talking about, Gary?"

"About Serena, of course, Ashy-boy! You were literally talking about phone numbers, and you couldn't have done a quick, 'here's mine, call me'?"

"Gary!" Clemont said, annoyed. Gary quickly replied with a salute and a, "Yes, your highness."

"Look," Ash said, "Gary, I don't want to deal with this. Serena and I are friends, and that's probably how it's going to go forever. Deal with it, your fantasies of us getting together won't happen."

"His fantasies? What about hers?" Trevor said, walking in the door.

Gary and Clemont stared down Trevor. "Trevor," Gary said calmly, "What did we say about Mission 274?"

Trevor realized his absent-mindedness. "Crap," he said.

"Huh? What?" Ash said.

"Gary gave a friendly laugh. "What could you possibly mean, Ash?"

Ash looked confused at his friend's actions. "I mean, what did you say? I didn't hear it. Just a bunch of numbers."

The other three made a big sigh of relief. "Just, talking about math Ash."

* * *

 **So, between the start and finish of the writing, I got many positive reviews, telling me they were excited to hear more. Like Verity, I very much enjoy that breath of fresh air. Thank you.**

 **Quick reference: If you don't understand Mission 274, look at a number pad.**

 **Let me know what you thought (not what grammar I messed up), or what you want to see. I'll try to incorporate all I can, as the plot's pretty up in the air at this point, but most big requests would be unfeasible.**

 **Once again, thank you for the kind words and optimism(from some). I haven't seen that kindness since Too Much was released (haha go read that, please). Also I'm gonna hold The Secret Mega until a few chapters are in the works. I have 3 and a half, I think. When I get to five I'll release.  
**

 **Hope you enjoyed, and see you next time. I'll try to condense these notes in the future, as they are quite boring.**


	3. Nathan

**Hello!**

 **I've gotten a bunch of positive reviews! It feels so good to have support behind this story.**

 **I'm not going to stick to my schedule of twice every three weeks, or whatever it was. I'll work on these as quickly as I can. If it's out too early, it's early, and if it's late, it's late.**

 **Anyway, let's see what this chapter has in store...**

* * *

Chapter 3: Nathan

Serena and Verity walked into their first class, calculus 1. It wasn't the advanced math for their year, but they weren't necessarily behind their class. Miette was in calculus 2, with a few others. They sat down next to each other. They both knew Rowan didn't really care where they sat, as long as they are learning. "I don't really like math," Verity said. "It's not that its hard, just tedious. I had to basically teach myself last year."

Serena looked at her. "I think you'll have a different experience this year," she said, smiling.

The teacher, Rowan, came in the room. He went to the board. "What _is_ calculus?" He asked. No one answered. He then proceeded to draw a graph on the board. "See this? Easily, because you all too algebra, you could find the slope of a line secant to this graph, had I given you two points. But what if you get one? How could you write the equation of the line tangent to this graph?" The class was silent. "I'm going to teach you all to be the best. You are going to enter this class as students, and exit as young professionals." It was so silent in the room you could hear a pencil drop. This is an accurate statement, because at the end of class, Serena's pencil dropped, and it could be heard. A tall boy with auburn hair grabbed it.

"Is this yours?" he asked. "Here."

"Um, thanks," Serena said. "Who are you?"

"My name's Nathan, I'm a transfer from Mauville Academy. I'm going to be the strongest trainer in the world. Calculus is my stepping stone."

Serena and Verity looked at him. He had some sort of pride with him, but he acted odd, like he knew something they didn't. He wore a red wrist band, with something odd in it. "What's that?" Verity asked.

"If you must know," he said, "it's my keystone. It let's my ampharos mega-evolve. I have five Pokemon back at the lab. I've won every battle I've participated in. Next year, I'm going to be the champion of Kanto."

"Wow," said Verity, "That's an ambitious goal. I wish you luck." Nathan looked at Verity, then walked off.

"That was a strange conversation you had, Verity. It's only the first class," Serena said. She grabbed her schedule. "Looks like you're going to Battling Strategy. I'm off to Showcase Lab." She laughed. "Let me know if you see that Nathan kid. If you ask me, I think he likes you."

Verity groaned. "I've been at this school for less than twenty-four hours, and already you guys think that there's two boys interested in me."

* * *

"Alright, class, I'm Steven. I'll teach you how to not suck at battling. We will start off with a trail battle, to see where you all are." Steven surveyed the class. He pointed at Gary and Clemont. "You two, on the field. I want to see a well thought out battle, using strategy. The rest of you, figure out what decided the course of the battle." He gestured the rest of the class to sit on the bleachers.

Everyone managed to find seats. Gary sent out Blastoise. Clemont looked at Gary and the shellfish pokemon. "Ok then," Clemont said. "Let's go, Luxray!" Clemont sent out the Sinnoh electric-type. Verity looked in amazement at the two fully-evolved pokemon. "You'll be that cool one day, Piplup."

"Piplup! pip!" The penguin pokemon responded.

"The battle's already decided. I've seen both of them fight already. Luxray will win."

Verity looked up to see Nathan. "Oh! You're here. I didn't expect that you'd 'waste your time on some petty battling class if you're going to challenge the elite 4 and champion next year."

Nathan looked at her. "I'm not perfect, uh, um,"

"Verity," Verity said. "My name's Verity."

"Like the lake?"

"Yes," Verity sighed. Like the lake."

"Anyway," Nathan continued, "I'm not a perfect battler, and anything will help, I guess." He looked over to the left of him. "Plus, I want to battle him."

Verity looked to the direction Nathan's head was in. It was Ash, who was energetically watching the battle. "That Pikachu is really something. I want to see if it can handle the pokemon I brought."

"Yeah," Verity agreed. "It'd be cool to see Ampharos vs Pikachu."

"Ampere?" Nathan asked. "No, I didn't take Ampere with me. Ampere's back at the lab. The one I took is a surprise."

Verity laughed. "Well, you might have this whole battling thing figured out, but like you said, that Pikachu's something special. Serena told me so."

"Serena?" Nathan questioned. "She's the girl you were with in calculus. She knows Ash? I guess it's him then."

"Huh?" Verity asked, extremely confused by the lack of context this mysterious man has given her.

"Well, once I become champion in, uh," he looked at his watch, causing Verity to giggle at the randomness of his actions "7 months, I'll need something to do afterward. My plan is to become an ace psycholigist. I'll be so good at reading minds, not only will I be able to help myself in battles, but I'll be able to solve world conflicts. I'm basically training to be to world's greatest person."

Verity looked at him. "So you actually know how to be nice. huh."

"I'll pretend you didn't say that as an option to flirt with me. When-"

"Option to what?" Verity asked, accusingly.

"Hm," Nathan said. "Maybe I was wrong, as that second statement of yours contradicted my previous claim. I'm not perfect at that either. Anyway, when I saw your friend in calculus, I noticed that she clearly had something else on her mind. I deduced it was a guy by her body position when she tried to talk to me. I was curious to see how long it would take for me to figure out who. She hasn't mentioned any other guys?"

"Well," said Verity, not trying to give her friend's secret away to this strange man, "She mentioned how much of an ego Gary has."

Nathan looked at the battle for about half a second. Luxray was winning, but not by much. Blastoise was currently paralyzed, and had -1 defense, as shown on the screen above the battleground. "Ok, well, I don't have to be close to reading minds to figure that out. It must be him who she constantly has on her mind. She should really do something about that. It's borderline unhealthy to have a crush on a childhood friend and not tell him."

"How did-"

"I can read minds, kind of, Verity. We went over that," Nathan said, annoyed.

"Blastoise is unable to battle, the winner is Luxray and Clemont!" Steven said. He walked over to the class. "Now, where did the battle change course to Clemont's favor?"

"Shoot!" said Verity. "We totally forgot to watch the battle!"

"Nonsense," said Nathan. "I told you the outcome at the beginning." He raised his hand, and Steven acknowledged him. "Well, sir, to be completely honest, the battle was never in Gary's favor. The initial type advantage meant absolutely nothing, but with my prior knowledge on the speeds of both pokemon, I know Clemont valued speed more than Gary, so Luxray has a 252 speed 252 attack, and 6 special defense build. Gary went for more power, but failed to land any hits because it couldn't outspeed a pokemon that was already faster than it, especially when paralyzed. Alternatively, the battle could have turned out of favor of Clemont with the use of a rain dance, but knowing Gary, that move is not on his blastiose, is it?"

"No,"said Gary, annoyed of his flaws being called out.

Steven looked surprised. "Eh, very good. I am impressed, I did not think you were watching the battle."

"I'm always watching the battle," retorted Nathan, proudly.

Steven looked to the whole class. "Well, I hope you enjoyed your first day. I sure had fun watching these two gifted battlers. Enjoy yourselves.

Nathan and Verity walked out together. "He wants to be teaching geology, I can tell. But he is a remarkable battler as well, so I guess the position is ok."

Verity looked at Nathan. "Well, I'm off to my dorm to meet up with my friends for lunch. Ash and his friends might be there, so your welcome to join."

Nathan mustered a smile. "I appreciate the offer, I'll be eating later."

"Ok then," Verity said. "See you lat-"

"Oh, one more thing," said Nathan, demanding. "When I say I can read minds, that doesn't exclude yours."

"I don't li-" Verity started, but Nathan had already disappeared. "-ke you like that," she finished to herself.

* * *

"Hey Verity!" Serena greeted her. Serena then looked at her. "He was there, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, about that," Verity started. "He said he's trying to become the world's greatest psychiatrist."

"Good for him," Serena said happily. "It's always good to have lots of goals."

"No you don't understand," Verity warned. She was nervous to tell Serena that Nathan was practically a psychic. But she had to, it was important Serena knew. "He can basically read minds already, and just from your body posture in math, he knows you like Ash. He also figured out you two have known each other for a while."

"He what?"

"Also," Verity said, now nervous she upset her friend, "um, he said something along the lines of, 'you should tell him soon because it's borderline unhealthy."

"That's ridiculous," Serena said. "He doesn't know enough to know that."

"Although," May intruded, finally back from Contest Training, "Hurrying might be the best option. In terms of mystery, I think this guys likes you, Verity. Drew acted mysterious when we first, I mean, let's get lunch!"

The other two laughed. "We might as well. May, we'll let you slide on that one," Shauna said, now entering the room.

All of them decided to head down to lunch. There was a break in the day, so there wouldn't be any classes for a solid thee hours. That was the time where students ran and participated in extra-curricular activities. But ironically, that portion of information is 100% irrelevant to the story.

* * *

"Ash!" Serena called, as she went over to their table. Ash was currently eating with Trevor, who wasn't actually eating, but just keeping Ash company until he and Shauna went to lunch somewhere in the city. Verity sat down next to Trevor, who was across from Ash. Serena looked around, for the final seat in the booth, the only one being next to Ash. She sat down next to him relatively casually, as her confidence was slightly boosted now that her friends were freaking out about Nathan, and not teasing her about Ash. "It seems like we've had no time to catch up. Tell me about your break."

Ash nodded. He figured it would actually be pretty nice to catch up. He's been battling all morning, and now came time for lunch, his favorite time of the day. "Well, I spent most of time with Gary in Oak's lab. It wasn't awful, but I really wished I could have traveled this summer."

"I get what you mean," Serena said. "All I really did was-"

"Trevor, are you down there?" a female voice called from outside. Trevor got up. "Looks like I have to go. See you all around." At this point, Trevor left, leaving the three of them there.

"So, Ash," Verity started, "what did you think about the battle class today?"

"It was really cool to watch two of my friends battle. I knew Clemont would win from the beginning though. He has more spirit when he battles, as opposed to Gary, who just wants to win," Ash said, excited. Verity took note of his excitement for battling.

"But what about the one kid, who answered the question about the battle? What did you think about him?" Verity asked, hopeful for an answer.

"Well," Ash said, "I noticed the keystone on his hand. I hope I can battle his mega-evolved pokemon." Verity gave him a look that explained that he didn't have that one. "A surprise you say? I'm interested. Although otherwise, he seemed really smart. I hope I get to meet him more."

"Well now's your chance."

The group turned around to see the mystery boy himself, standing behind them all. "I am quite interested in that Pikachu of yours. I'd like to battle it."

"Well," Serena butted in, "Ash gets very hungry, and eating is important to him. You might have to wait on that."

Nathan looked at them, like he had something planned. "Ok, well then on to my second option. Serena, I'd like to speak with you."

* * *

 **So we've met this strange new person, but who is he? And what is he after? And why does he want to talk to Serena?**

 **Some quick things:**

 **Rowan is based of my actual calculus teacher, who is one of the greatest teachers I've ever had, so that's cool I guess.**

 **Nathan's from Mauville, so my hint is that the pokemon he brought is gen 3. This is also not crucial to the plot.**

 **Evolutions** **: I will implement at least one, but others might appear.**

 **What happens next? See you next time!**


	4. Rising Suspicions

**Nothing to say here, so uh, here we go.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Rising Suspicions

Serena looked around at her group she was sitting with, who at this point was just Ash and Verity. She didn't want to get up, but she was low-key terrified of Nathan, a boy who is claiming to win the Kanto League next year. He even keeps his pokemon he brought here a secret. Serena's distress unconsciously moved her gaze over to Ash. "It's fine," Ash said. This startled Serena, because she was in such a fog she didn't realize she was even looking at him. "We'll catch up later," he reassured her, "how does tonight sound, at dinner?"

Serena listened to what Ash said. _Is that a date?,_ she thought. _No, that's not right. Ash wouldn't do that, right?_. "Ok, sure thing!" she told him, with a tone of voice that would tell anyone but Ash she was extremely uncomfortable with this situation. What made it even worse is that Verity gave Serena a really obvious wink as she was leaving the table.

Serena followed Nathan to the other side of the room. "So, she can't keep a secret for too long, can she?" Nathan asked in a somewhat demanding voice.

"What are you talking about?" Serena asked, trying to play dumb with the future champion.

"What are you talking about," Nathan said. "The five words everyone uses when their lying. Listen, I watched Verity tense up the moment I walked over there. She told you about what I said."

Serena realized that she had been pushed into a corner. Metaphorically, of course. The room was a huge oval. She decided that it would be best just to see what Nathan has to say. "Fine, she told me what you said. Not sure what the big deal is, or why you have to butt your head into this, because this is my mess, not yours."

Nathan was slightly startled to hear the change in Serena's voice. "Relax, you have nothing to worry about. Unless, of course, you wait too long to tell the boy."

This statement, caught Serena off guard. What did Nathan want? He came over for a battle, now this was happening. She decided to try and figure these questions out. "What, are you going to try and steal me away from him," Serena asked mockingly.

Nathan laughed. "False, as a matter of fact. Just remember I can easily deduce the thoughts of all of you. However, if you wish for me to stay out of this, I will. For now."

"For now?" Serena asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I can sense I'll be needed eventually. I'll just need someone to admit I was right."

Serena looked at the tall boy. "I won't give you the pleasure of being right," she said, starting to walk away.

Nathan watched the girl walk away. He took one last look at the dining hall. "It seems you already have," he said to himself. He tossed out a pokeball, and one of his team members appeared. "Quiver, it's time to train," he said to the pokemon as he walked out.

* * *

 _Meanwhile..._

Serena followed Nathan to the other side of the room. Verity and Ash watched as the honey blonde left their sight. "I hope she'll be ok," Verity said. "Nathan kind of scares me."

"He looks like a nice person. I'm sure Serena'll be fine," Ash concluded.

There was a ring on Verity's phone. She grabbed it and saw a message from Shauna.

 _Hey girl, I forgot about my typical role. Can you make sure Miette actually shows up to lunch instead of studying? It's normally my job and she really won't come if she isn't told to. Sorry about this, but I'm with Trevor in the middle of Anistar right now._

Verity laughed as she read the message. "What's that about?" Ash asked intuitively.

Verity explained, "It's from Shauna asking me to actually make sure Miette shows up to lunch, because Shauna's in Anistar with-"

"Trevor," Ash finished.

Verity looked at the boy. "Are you upset about something? You seemed like you knew exactly where my sentence was going."

Ash sighed. "It's just, that Trevor and the rest of us have all been really good friends, but since we got back from break, I think I've seen him for a net total of two hours. I'd really like to hang out with him, but at the same time, do everything I want to do here."

Verity continued the conversation. "What do you plan on doing?"

"Well, to be honest, there's so much to do," Ash began. "First and foremost, I really want to catch up with Serena. We never really talked over the summer. I guess I'm pretty bummed about that. On top of that, I want to battle Nathan. I wanted to today, but he insisted on waiting until later."

Verity almost flew back from all the words she was just hit with, and gears started turning in her head. "Ok I have a few questions. You asked Nathan to battle earlier?"

"Yeah," answered Ash. "But he said, 'tomorrow for sure, but not today'. It was weird he asked during lunch. I guess he thought he was ready."

Verity fumed a bit. "I knew it! He's just going to tell Serena that he knows about, uh, about-"

"About what?" Ash asked innocently.

Verity realized she painted herself into a corner here. Please remember that this corner is also metaphorical, and so is the paint. There will be no paint in this story. Verity tried changing the subject. "Well, I think it's nice you want to catch up with Serena. But I also think it was weird he asked to battle too."

Surprisingly, that worked. "I'm really excited for that battle, you should know that. Say, we should battle some time. I bet you're strong, like your mom is!"

Verity got a bit red at the mentioning of her mother. She wasn't really sure how she felt about her mom being the Sinnoh Champion. It was cool and all, but it means a lot of expectation everywhere she went. "Well, you see, Ash, I don't train that much. I'm not great."

Ash looked at her with a confident smile. "I can help you then, and maybe Nathan too! I bet he's really good.

"I won't give you the pleasure of being right," a female voice said from close by. The two concluded it was Serena's. The honey blonde made it back to her seat. "I don't like him," Serena said. "You were right about the mind thing, Verity. It's kind of freaky." They all watched as the boy left the hall. "What's that pokemon he has with him?"

No one managed to see it. The next thirty seconds were filled with silence, shrugs, and looking at each other.

Ash got up, out of his seat. "Well," he said. "I want to go see if Nathan wants that battle." He started walking out of the hall.

Verity looked at Serena, with a 'listen to me, I'm right,' look. "You should follow him out."

Serena laughed at Verity. "You sound a lot like someone I don't like." Verity turned a little red. "You're secret's safe with me, but we all know it isn't with him."

Verity yelled out, "What? No! I'm not into freaky psychics!" She chased Serena out of the hall, as Serena was skipping and singing like a child.

* * *

The two girls walked out of the hall, after finally calming down, to a sight they actually didn't expect today.

"Aerial Ace!"

The pokemon flew toward Pikachu at Nathan's command. It started to gain speed, as it eventually hit Pikachu dead on. Pikachu flew slightly back, but landed on it's feet.

"Get in closer, Quiver!"

Quiver got closer. How obedient. It started picking up speed. "Now, Pikachu! Thunderbolt!" Pikachu obeyed his trainer, firing a strong thunderbolt at the Pokemon, actually hitting it. What's even more surprising is that it knocked 'Quiver' out.

Nathan stood over the fainted pokemon. "Ugh, return, Quiver." The pokemon was returned to its pokeball. "Good work, you clearly learned something, but you still have a lot of work to do if you want to be on the team."

"What a strong Masquerain that was!" Ash said. "I think if you got out another quiver dance, it would have changed the course of the battle!"

Nathan looked disappointed. "Yeah, I guess. When Quiver evolved to Masquerain, I knew I wanted him on the team, and he wanted it too, but he wasn't too strong. He's gotten better, but he needs some work still."

The two trainers looked over to see the two girls watching them. "Serena, Verity, hello!" Ash said enthusiastically.

"Greetings, again," said Nathan.

Ash looked at Verity. "You want to tell him or should I?"

Verity was confused. "Um, about what?"

Nathan looked at her. "You know clearly what, Verity. You-" he took another look, and stepped back. "Nope, you're actually clueless right now. My apologies."

Ash laughed. "Anyway, Verity agreed to get some battle help from us, so she can show her mom how much she learned here. The class is great and all, but it's really experience that helps you the most."

Nathan looked at Verity with a smirk on his face. "I'd be honored. Of course, the training would be pretty intensive, and you'd be spending a lot of time with the both of us. Are you sure you would want to do that?"

Verity jumped up. "Of course! I'd-" she stopped. "I mean, sure, I guess."

Nathan laughed. No one else did, because they can't read minds. It was only funny to Nathan. "Of _course_ you would. Well, you know where to find us." With this, the future champion left.

Ash looked at the time. "Oh, shoot! I have math in like, ten minutes! I'll see you all around," he said, running off to his next class.

Verity looked at Serena. "I completely forgot I agreed to that. I really didn't think Ash would remember either."

Serena was laughing. "You should have seen how excited you got, though. You really want to spend more time with Nathan, don't you?"

Verity turned away. "No, I am just excited to learn," she said slightly angrily.

The two started walking off toward their next class, which for the both of them was English 12, the class known for it's large amount of work. The teacher gave out a paper to write every week. It was really rough, but it was a good way to make sure the seniors weren't slacking off too much during their final year. As they entered the class, they took a look to see who was in it. They quickly saw many of their friends, including, May, Miette, Shauna, Trevor, and Gary. Verity took one last look around, gave out a sigh of relief. "At least I get one class without him," Verity said to herself. "Maybe I can actually focus here."

Another girl came running in at the last minute, with a very scared look on her face. "I'm not late, am I?" she asked frantically.

The teacher, professor Sycamore, looked at her. "No, Lyra. Take a seat, we're going to start soon." The girl, now identified as Lyra, sat down in the only available seat, which was next to Serena and Verity. Sycamore acknowledged the room. "We're going to start the year easy. Write me a nice essay, telling me about yourself. No requirements, just a big open question. I like to get to know my students well to scope out the work I give them."

They all started to write. They were getting a lot done, when Lyra spoke up. "I saw you two watching that battle. Which one of you is dating who?"

The other two girls got red. "We aren't dating anyone!" Serena shouted quietly. This caused Miette to look over at the group, wink, and then get back to work.

Lyra studied the two. "Well, my mistake. I'm Lyra. I know just about all the gossip in the school. I know who everyone likes, and what everyone does. I'm like the best social tool to have around. As for you Serena, I'd get on that whole 'Ash' thing. He _is_ quite a catch."

Serena got red. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

Lyra laughed. "Nathan is smarter than he makes himself appear to be. Stay alert."

Class ended, and Serena and Verity walked out with the rest of their friends. "I don't think Lyra knows what she's talking about."

* * *

"Miette, go to sleep!" Serena shouted.

"Sorry, I'll try to be quieter," Miette responded, turning down the light she was using to a dimmer setting. "I'm just really trying to solve this math problem."

That was pretty much the truth. It was a problem, and math was involved, somehow. Miette scribbled a few number down, and took a step back. Studying the board, she then erased three numbers, and moved them over from their current position, which was in front of a doodle, to a new spot, next to another doodle, that looked similar. She then picked up her calculator, and entered the numbers she saw on the board. "Oh, no," she whispered. She stepped over to the window, and looked out at the moon. She took two fingers, and pretended to crush it. She went over and entered more numbers onto the calculator. She then ran over to Serena's bed. "Serena, wake up," she whispered.

Serena, who just fell asleep, looked at the disturbance to her slumber. "What, Miette?"

Miette had a worried look on her face. "Come, we need to talk. Now."

* * *

 **Hey, I don't have much to say here, but it looks like we are building some tension. What is that tension? We don't know. More specifically, you don't know. I do. Ha.**

 **Let me know any thoughts, and if you have a question, throw it down in the reviews, and I'll answer it the best I can!**

 **See you next time!**


	5. Questioning

**So I got this review, which was very helpful to see:**

 **From: Guest**

 **Hello, i'm they same person who complained about they abrupting ending of HIM. I am writing this to say that you have to keep going and don't pay attention to those pokeshippers who said those mean things. Good luck. Sorry about my previous review.**

 **I can't confirm you're the same person, but I'll take your word for it. I'm glad you enjoy this, because those things the other person said really hit me hard at first. I'll do my best to keep this going.**

 **Quick edit: The pokeshipper apologized to me, and I assume they did the same thing with others, so ok.**

 **Anyway, here we go**

* * *

Chapter 5: Questioning

Miette took Serena out into the hallway, with the white board in her hand. The two walked out into the common room in the dorm, where there was a lot of open space. It was late, and they were the only ones in there. Miette put down the whiteboard and her calculator in front of her. "All the numbers are there," she said. "Just look at it. You have to hurry on Ash, maybe even tomorrow. But I'm serious, there's trouble."

Serena was shocked. "Trouble? I don't think I follow your numbers, Miette. Please explain this to me."

Miette stared at her intently. "There's someone else going after Ash. I won't tell you who, for the sake of everyone, but I will try to stop this as best I can."

"The best you can?" Serena nearly shouted. "Would the best you can, I don't know... be telling me who it is?"

Miette took a step back. "If you knew who it was, you would understand. If you want to figure it out, I say go for it. But ideally, your optimal choice would to be just ask the kid out. If Nathan's right about anything, it's that it's truly getting to borderline unhealthy."

Serena stooped, and contemplated. Twice now, she had been told that she needs to just ask out the boy, not because it's smart but so she doesn't die or something. Not so hard, right? Just a few words, right? _No, it's harder. What if he says no? Will we actually interact ever again? Will Shauna and Trevor be affected?_ she thought. She replied to Miette, "I think I'll find them first. That would be a priority to me, I think."

Miette sighed. "I think you have the wrong priority, but if you insist. Listen, you should go to bed. It's late."

The two agreed to get a good night's rest. There was a whole year of this to come.

* * *

Elapsed time: 3 months

Serena has yet to do anything. She wants to find her 'competition' first, but to no avail. No one was ending up to be the one she was trying to find.

The honey blonde walked in a from a hard morning. No one was in the dorm yet. She sat down at her desk, and checked her phone. Just a few texts:

Gary: Yo hit me up with those calc answers please

Shauna: Sorry, I can't make it to lunch today :(

Ash: Hey can we fire up some study sessions for history? The midterm's coming up. We could invite Verity, Gary, and Shauna, because they have the class too.

Serena acknowledged that. A study session shouldn't be bad, and she needed something to take her mind off this impossible task that she was going for.

She quickly replied:

 _No problem! We should start this week!_

She always seemed like a cheerful person when she texted, and not like a huge problem followed her around everywhere.

No one was yet in the room. She pulled out the piece of paper, with every girl she knew. She thought about the questioning she forced herself to go through with every girl. She looked at the first names on the list. Her roommates.

 _"Hey," Serena asked the room. "None of you have a crush on Ash, right?"_

 _"Serena, I have a boyfriend," Shauna replied, annoyed._

 _"School's too important," Miette said, with her nose in a book._

 _"I'm dating Drew- I mean, School's too important!" May said, embarrassed._

 _"We get it May, you don't have to hide it from us," Miette said, not looking up from the book._

 _"I don't even know over 10 people at this school, Serena," Verity said._

It was just a thoroughness check, but she had to recall that conversation. She looked over at the rest of the list, everyone she knew. She looked at the next name, and took a deep sigh. She didn't like to, but it was a matter of importance.

 _"Um, Misty, hey."_

 _"What do you want, idiot?"_

 _Serena was taken aback. "My apologies, but I have a pretty important question to ask."_

 _"Well," Misty began, "If you're looking for important answers, that's me. I know everything."_

 _"Of course you do, Misty," Serena lied. "Anyway, I wanted to know, um, this is kinda weird to ask, but if you liked Ash?"_

 _"What?" Misty shouted? "Where did you get that idea, idiot?"_

 _"Ok, thank you for your time," Serena replied to an angry Misty._

Not a place she wanted to revisit, but if that meant getting the answer, it might not be a bad place to check again. But only as a last resort. Serena looked at the next names on her list.

 _"Hey guys," Serena said to the two girls._

 _"Oh, hey, Serena!" Dawn and Iris responded. "What brings you here on this fine day?"_

 _"Well, actually, I wanted to know what you guys though of Ash."  
_

 _"We know you like him, Serena," Dawn said. "I don't think anyone's going to step in your way."_

 _"Besides," Iris mentioned, "Who would want to date someone in their freshmen year?"_

 _"Iris," Serena said, "He's a senior."  
_

 _"Could've fooled me," Iris scoffed._

Probably not. Serena knew her friends to be reliable. Maybe she could ask them about Misty instead of going through another ordeal.

That was it. Serena looked at how small the list was. She had to be forgetting someone, right? She looked at her desk. There was another assignment sitting on there. It was Sycamore's first essay he had them right. He told them all to put it on their desks at the beginning of the year, to show them how much they grew every time they write. It actually did help her write, a lot. She remembered her first day in that class, and the interruption that started on the day she was given this impossible task.

 _"I'm like the best social tool to have around. As for you Serena, I'd get on that whole 'Ash' thing. He is quite a catch."_

 _"_ _He is quite a catch."_

Lyra. That was it. Serena never asked Lyra.

Oh, English was going to be fun today.

* * *

"Good, you actually are doing really well," Ash said.

Piplup was mastering bubblebeam, and it was going really well. "Nathan should have been here today, Verity. He would've been proud of you too, I think."

"Or alternatively," Verity laughed, "he would have said something like, 'about time', or 'finally'."

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. Nathan has different standards for Quiver, and he sometimes forgets he's dealing with someone not at his level."

Verity nodded. "At least one of my instructors cares about my improvement, and isn't training his own pokemon during this."

Ash laughed. "I think Nathan's just excited to battle the Champion. He wants to be so prepared he knows he can't lose. By the way," Ash started, "what's this whole thing about Nathan reading minds?"

Verity tensed up. "Uh, I think it might be a joke, I don't know."

Ash looked at her. "I don't think you are telling me the whole story. You clearly know something."

Verity sighed. "It's just, well, Serena's been kind of teasing me because she thinks I like Nathan or something, and-"

"Well, do you?" Ash asked.

Verity shook her head. "Not him. That's not who I like. I wish Serena believed me."

Ash put his hand on her shoulder. "I believe you," Ash said. "Sorry, go on."

"Well, so he can read minds, and he's kind of threatening Serena, about, something personal to her. He thinks it's unhealthy or something for her to not do it, and he claimed he'll be essential. It was a weird conversation we had, and he can tell I'm thinking about it every time we do this training. So can he read minds? Probably, or his predictions are incredible, but I'm going with that first option."

Ash looked at her. "Wow, ok, do you think I should talk to Serena about it? I might be able to hel-"

"No, don't!" Verity almost shouted. "She's really tense about the situation, and it would be bad to remind of it more."

"Ok, I guess that's understandable. We should get to class, extra-circular time is just about over," Ash concluded.

"Ok," Verity said.

* * *

"Today, you'll be working in groups of three. I want to see how people from different regions, in this class, can communicate ideas into a well-written paper. I'm most interested to see how you can do," Sycamore assigned the class.

"We're all from different regions, right?" Serena asked her friends.

"Johto," Lyra said.

"Sinnoh, you knew that," Verity said.

The three got started. They decided to write about the reason moves like aerial ace can always land, even with lowered accuracy. It was an abstract topic, but Sycamore liked abstract, so that's good they did that.

"So Lyra," Serena asked, "You said you are the best social tool in the school?"

"Essentially," Lyra confirmed.

"So, I bet someone as charismatic and socially powerful as you has a crush on someone?"

"Eh, I'm more in the defensive game than offensive. I'm like the goalie, or the key member of gossip. It basically requires me to stay single."

"Sorry I asked," Serena said. "Miette told me that someone was after Ash, besides me, and I can't figure out who."

Lyra stood up. "Worry no longer, child in need! I'll get to the bottom of this faster than you can write the essay!"

"Nice try, Lyra. You still have to contribute," Verity said.

"Darn," Lyra said. "But don't worry, Serena. I'll figure this out."

* * *

"I'm really glad we could finally catch up, Ash. I feel like this is a little overdue," Serena said, as they sat down to dinner.

"Yeah, me too," Ash said. "Gary and I actually have a bet going on. What do you all talk about in your dorm?"

Serena got slightly flustered. She thought about what they talked about in their room:

 _"Hey, Drew and I are getting dinner, you know as friends, of course! You should bring Ash, it will be like a double date, but not, you know?"_

 _"May, we get it. And Serena's not bringing Ash on your date. They aren't dating, yet."_

 _"Stop saying yet!"_

"Hehe, we just kind of talk about school and teachers, and the kids in our class." Serena quickly tried to change the subject. "We should really do those study sessions again, like you said! I think it would be a good idea. Wouldn't that be good?"

Ash, completely oblivious to the subject change, replied, "Yeah, ok! We should start Thursday, does that work for you?"

"Yeah, it does. I have really nothing going on right now."

"Great," Ash said. "So it's a date then."

"A What?" Serena almost shouted.

"A date, like a day that something's happening. You ok, Serena?" Ash replied, confused to the sudden scream.

Serena playfully laughed. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. See you!"

* * *

A knock on the door sounded. Odd, no one else was supposed be be here for at least an hour. Miette got up, put her book down, and walked over to the door. If it was important, they would have knocked like that, and if it was one of her roommates, they would have a key. Miette opened the door. "Oh, it's you. I heard you were recruited today."

"Yes," the girl outside the door replied. "I did some intense searching, and I think-"

"I know who it is Lyra, I just didn't tell Serena."

"Oh," Lyra said. "Good thinking. We shouldn't tell her, but I have an idea. We need that weird kid."

* * *

 **I'm going to wrap this one up here. The next chapter will resume the conversation between Miette and Lyra.**

 **This one took a bit longer than normal to finish, so sorry about that. I'm still under the 1.5 weeks thing, so that's good I guess.**

 **I don't have much else to say, so uh, leave a review if you want, maybe one just saying hi, I don't know.**

 **Bye, I guess. See y'all later.**


	6. A Favor

**Hello,**

 **I got a few questions, so I guess I'll answer them.**

 **1\. The 274 thing isn't super clear, so I'll spell it out.**

 **2 on the number pad: ABC, let's use A**

 **7 on the number pad: PQRS, let's use S**

 **4 on the number pad: GHI, let's use H**

 **Basically, mission 274 for the group is to conceal Serena's feelings from Ash, in an effort that Serena does it herself. I guess that should've been explained earlier. oops.**

 **2\. Verity is in the story, will Cross be in the story?**

 **I haven't decided yet. I'm thinking no, but never rule it out. If anything, he'll be a very minor character.**

 **Alrighty. Time to rumble.**

* * *

Chapter 6: A Favor

"We need that weird kid," Lyra said.

"Nathan?" Miette asked. What could he possibly need? He was not really seen for the past month, outside of Verity's lessons. He has insisted on training especially hard in the winter with Quiver.

"You said he can read minds, right? Let's send someone we think he can trust, and then they learn how to read minds. Then, we find out two things. We first find out who else is after Serena. Then-"

"We know who it is."

"Ok, well, it becomes known. That will solve the current tensions, I can tell. Additionally, we find out who Ash likes, I think. He can probably help us with that, right?" Lyra's plan seemed actually thought out and effective, as opposed to her ideas Miette has heard in English.

Miette thought about it. The stress level in Serena's life has become intense, and it desperately needed help. Even if it wasn't the best solution out there, it was the best one for a while. "We should do it. It's not great, but it's all we have."

Lyra smirked. "It's great, Miette. I am socially superior to you, and I'm glad you selected me for assistance. But of course, my payment for my ingeniousness."

"Whatever," Miette sighed, handing over a paper to Lyra. "That should get you an A at least. I did it really late, so don't expect greatness. I also had to try and match your writing style, which was an awfully difficult task."

"Hey!" Lyra said. She started to walk out. "Wait, Miette."

Miette turned around. "Yes?"

Lyra looked at the list on Serena's desk, with all her friends, crossed off. "Who do we send? Who does Nathan probably Trust enough?"

Miette looked at the list, then looked at Lyra. They said at the same time, "Verity."

* * *

"Shame Ash couldn't be here today, but I'm impressed _you_ managed to show up. Your break from training is training others, sad," Verity teased.

Nathan stared her down. "I was in class, was I not? Class is my training break. Quiver still can learn here. Now, use drill peck again, and try actually try hitting Quiver this time."

Verity groaned. "You have six Quiver Dances down!"

Nathan didn't move. "Ok, then move faster than sic Quiver Dances. Was that so hard to figure out?"

Verity moved her lips silently, mocking him. "Piplup, you can do this. Drill Peck!"

Piplup started rushing toward Quiver, who was getting pretty tired. Piplup jumped into the air, something it had never done as an approach before. It started to perform the drill peck attack, and increased in speed as it flew down toward quiver. Then, Piplup started glowing. It grew in size, and was still increasing in speed, but much more now. It's wings grew longer too. When Piplup stopped glowing it was no longer Piplup. Additionally, Quiver was no longer there, but on the ground, getting up after a hit. The sudden change in speed was too much for Quiver to handle. Verity's pokemon landed on the ground, gracefully, shouting, "Prinplup!"

Nathan stared at the newly evolved pokemon for a second. He then regained his focus. "Return, Quiver." The Masquerain returned to its pokeball. Verity went over to him.

"See that?" She said. "I hit it, and Piplup evolved!"

"I noticed. I have eyes," Nathan said, in his typical, 'stop stating the obvious' way, which wasn't actually too typical. "You need to leave now. Also, if you get to Battling Strategies before me tomorrow, alert Steven I request a battle with someone now."

"Affirmative," Verity said mockingly, and saluting, also mockingly.

* * *

Verity walked proudly to English. She couldn't decide if she wanted to tell Serena and Lyra about Prinplup. She decided against it, as any joyful things other people have done have seemed to drain even more life out of Serena, who was teetering on insanity.

She walked into English, still a bit early. Miette and Lyra were talking to Serena, and Verity caught the last moment of it.

"I still don't think that's right. Besides, I don't want him to be right."

"Well, deal with it," Lyra said. "He's right, and we should have known there was no other option. Just ask her to do it, I'm sure she'll say yes."

"Really?" Serena asked, hopeful.

"I ran the numbers, and Lyra did, well, whatever Lyra does. It will work."

"Hey guys," Verity said.

"Hey, Verity," Lyra said. "How was training with your boyfriend?"

"We. Aren't. Dating, Lyra. You should know that, Ms. Social Master," Verity said angrily.

Lyra laughed. "Calm down, hun. Only joking. But anyway, we need you to speak with him."

Verity groaned. Nathan was a decent person, but decent just about cut it. He wasn't here to make friends, and he makes that evident. Talking to him, and asking for most likely a favor will just boost his confidence and his ego. "What could you possibly need?"

Lyra threw down a sketch of something, that really made no sense. "Observe. So we need Serena to either figure out if Ash likes her back, or who is after him as well. So, we need you to learn mind-reading tricks from Nathan. Then, use your newfound knowledge to get Serena what she needs. We're using you because we need someone who he probably trusts, if trust is in his vocabulary."

Verity's eyes glazed over the drawing, and she listened to the instructions in her head again. It all made sense, for the most part, but how far was for the most part going to get them? That part was sketchy. Verity looked at them grimly. "Do you really think it will work? I'm not so sure..."

"It will work, Verity. Everyone will get what they want," Miette assured her.

"Who's this person in the sketch, that clearly isn't getting what they want?" Verity questioned.

"Were you paying attention?" Lyra screamed. "It's the person going after him!"

Serena stood there, watching the whole thing unfold. She didn't want to drag anyone else further into the problem, especially her friend. "Why don't we test it small-scale, first. That way we can confirm if it will work for this," Serena suggested.

"Smaller scale?" Miette questioned. "What could we possibly do as a smaller scale?"

She was right. There was hardly anything they could do. If they learn to mind read something else, then go for the target, they can conclude that he can teach mind-reading, but just for that topic. If they learned something about other people dating, well he could get skeptical. More than he already would be. "Verity, since you were asked to do it, you can pick the smaller scale," Serena suggested.

Verity was not focused on anything. The past five minutes have been a huge blur. "Huh? What did you say?"

"Never mind," Serena said, not wanting to repeat herself.

"Relax," Verity said. "I think I'll try. Not today, and probably not in a week. Serena, just uh, hold on."

* * *

"Attention, students!" Principal Oak announced to the classes. "We are pleased to announce the return of this year's Ainistar Winter Formal! This will be just as prestigious of an event as ever, and we will be taking suggestions for the theme in the office!"

The Winter Formal was more tradition than anything, as it dated all the way back to the start of the school. It was the official 'goodbye' to the first semester, and happened the Friday before winter break. Every year, there has been a student-picked theme, that focused the activities of the dance. A theme-style battle tournament, showcases and contests occurred, along with themed food, prepared by the cooking students. This year was expected to be a great year for food, as many of the top cooks were seniors this year. Not everyone goes, but over 2/3 of the school does. It's a really great time that everyone actually has a lot of fun with.

Oh, and everyone who goes brings a date. It's tradition.

Serena flustered up at the announcement of the Winter Formal. She knew about the whole date thing, as she's been here for three years before. Her and Ash went as friends for the past three years, but she wasn't sure if it would be the same. Things have been very different this year.

Miette had no problem finding a date. She just wrote a paper for anyone who was willing to go with her.

May went with Drew the past two years, because that's when they started, "hanging out more".

Shauna was going with Trevor. They already knew that.

"Verity!" Lyra called. "The Winter Formal's a great time! You'll absolutely love it! We do all sorts of things, like-"

"Lyra, are you forgetting something?" Miette asked. "Tickets are only sold in pairs. She'd need a date to enter. Knowing how little people she knows, it's going to be a real problem finding a date to go with for her."

"Nonsense!" Lyra said. "I'll find someone." She whispered to Verity, "how about Nathan?"

"No! I said No!" Verity shouted.

Lyra laughed. "Don't worry, he'll only be a last resort."

* * *

"Water gun, Prinplup!"

"Quiver, tank it, then use Air Slash," Nathan said calmly.

Orders were followed on Nathan's team. Quiver tanked it, then used Air Slash. That was it for Prinplup.

"Prinplup is unable to battle! Quiver wins!" Ash shouted, in an official manner.

"Ugh," sighed Verity. "Prinplup, return." Verity returned the pokemon. "Good job, now take a rest."

Nathan did the same, but quietly. "Return, Quiver. Excellent work." It was the first time anyone heard Nathan say something sort of positive to, well, anyone. But he still continued. "You still have work to do. We'll get much done over Holiday."

"Yeah, about that, Nathan," Verity inquired, "You're from Hoenn. Where are you staying for Holiday?"

Nathan hardly looked up from what he was doing. "I'm staying with my roommate over the break. I'm actually leaving as soon as first semester finals are over."

Verity decided to tease him a bit. "You're not wasting your time with a petty dance party?"

Nathan disregarded the sarcasm. "No, I'm not. Let's go Quiver." The future champion left with his masquerain. Ash and Verity watched him leave. Nathan turned around one last time. "So, Verity, if you need anything from me, I'd ask for it sooner rather than later." He maybe winked. He was pretty far away, so no one knows for sure.

At the same time the tall boy disappeared from sight, Serena came running out. "Ash, do you have a minute?"

Ash looked at Serena. She had a worried look on her face. Whatever it was, it was probably really important. "Sure, what do you need?"

"Your mom's on the monitor, calling."

* * *

They all ran as fast as they could back to the campus pokemon center. Delia was waiting for all of them on the screen. "Mom, what's wrong? Are you ok?" Ash asked worriedly.

"I am fine," Delia responded. "But Mimey isn't. He's gotten really sick." Ash noticed the gloves on his mother's hands. She almost looked like a complete germaphobe. "Anyway, Mimey will be fine, but what he has right now is pretty contagious, and we don't want you exposed to it."

Ash looked at his worried mother. "So, what are you getting at?"

Delia looked concerned. "If it is possible, could you stay somewhere in Kalos for Holiday this year? I know it isn't what you wanted, but we don't want you getting too sick to go back."

Ash looked confused. "I don't know where I would stay..."

Delia laughed, which relieved Ash that she wasn't miserable. "I figured you'd have no idea where to go, so I already dealt with the situation."

Ash nodded, laughing too. "Thanks Mom, I figured you would do that."

Delia smiled at the girl next to him. "Thanks again, Serena."

Serena got red. "No problem, Mrs. Ketchum! Glad to help."

"Wait, I'm staying with Serena?"

Delia laughed at Ash's redness from the statement. "I hope it's not too weird. You're practically an adult, so I don't see a problem if you two wind up-"

"Mom!" Ash screamed. "Stop with that!" By the time Ash refocused on the screen, Delia was gone. It was like U-turn, or Parting shot, or like, another one of those moves (yeah I totally know them).

"What was up with that thing your mom said?" Verity asked quietly.

"She's though since the first time Serena and I went to Winter Formal as friends, we were dating. Now, no matter how much I tell her otherwise, she teases me about it. Not a big deal, but it kind of bothers me."

"There's scientifically one possibility that results in her stopping her teasing," Miette butted in out of nowhere.

"What's that?" Ash asked, eager to get an answer.

"Just start dating." And just like that, Miette disappeared as fast as she showed up. This statement caused Ash and Serena to turn red. Verity laughed at the two, now basically paralyzed (lmao get it? Like the status please don't get mad).

* * *

The dorm room was quiet. Everyone was asleep, except Serena. She was kind of mad at Miette for suggesting that, but maybe it would work. She'd have to wait and see.

The moon shined down on the battlefield, just outside their dorm. It was a pretty convenient spot, and it was close to everything. She remembered her first year, when Ash battled that senior who was bullying her, and won. That stopped her problem.

She remembered her second year, where She and Ash met with a few others to study for various items. The birth of study sessions.

She remembered her third year, where they met to survive Kill-me-stry. No one else showed up a lot, but he still did every time.

Now, she had to figure out who else was going for him. Verity just needed to complete one small favor.

* * *

The dorm room was quiet. Everyone was asleep, except Ash. Well, Clemont wasn't back yet. Some late night experimenting for a class or something. Don't worry, like most things mentioned, that provides no plot development.

Ash looked out. He saw the battlefield, and further out, he saw where Serena's dorm was, and the campus pokemon center. He remembered back to his first year, where they asked him to evolve Pikachu. Serena coaxed him out of it, and Pikachu was grateful for that.

He remembered his second year, where he beat Paul, and later, saw Paul in the pokemon center, withdrawing from the school. What a great day that was.

He remembered his third year, where he rushed in to save a Fenniken that wasn't his, only to discover it was Serena's. He started thinking. _Maybe staying with Serena won't be so ba- Is that Serena?_ Ash looked out to see the girl in the other window. She hadn't noticed him yet. Eventually, she caught sight if him, and quickly ran out of sight. Clemont walked in at this time. "What are you looking at out there?" Clemont asked.

"I'm not sure, Clemont. But something's going to happen between me and Serena. Tomorrow."

Clemont almost fell down in confusion. "What? You're going to ask her out?"

"Uh, no, Clemont," Ash said. "Weird idea. Anyway, I can just tell, something will happen tomorrow."

* * *

 **Holy crap what's going to happen tomorrow? Please note tomorrow is elapsed time in the story and not when I'm uploading next. I'm not that fast.**

 **Thanks for reading, leave a review, maybe, and see you next time!**


	7. Plans Collapse

**[Here's where I complain about mean reviews oh wait there weren't any. Thanks, I guess.]**

* * *

Chapter 7: Plans Collapse

"Alright, it's Friday, so it's 1v1 day," Steven said. The class has taken a liking to 1v1 day. It was a time where they could actually show off their battling abilities, and got some real experience. "Who's up today?" Steven asked.

Nathan stood up. "I think it's time I should take a turn." Steven acknowledged his offer, and gestured for him to step down to the battlefield.

"I want to go," Trevor offered. Trevor got up and walked down.

Steven turned to the rest of them. "Well, the rest of you, you know what to do."

"I admire that you chose today to go, Trevor," Nathan said. "You must've known your advantages."

"I went today because I'm bored. I don't even know what pokemon you have on you," Trevor retorted.

Nathan stared at him intently, and did the thing he knows how to do. "Checks out," he said angrily to himself. "Well," He said aloud, "Let's get this going, shall we? Quiver, you're up." Nathan threw out his pokeball, allowing Quiver to show up. Quiver seemed very excited to battle today.

Trevor looked at the masquerain in front of him. "Well, he did say I'd have an advantage. Charizard, let's do it!" Trevor sent out his charizard, who was excited as well. Quiver was no longer excited to battle. He glanced back at his trainer with weary eyes.

"I don't see a problem," Nathan said to Quiver. That was all he needed. Quiver looked forward, ready to go again.

Trevor called out the first attack. "Charizard, flare blitz!"

Nathan observed the opponent growing closer. "Mistake," he said to himself. "Quiver, ascend and use quiver dance." Quiver followed these instructions carefully. Charizard crashed into the wall, and turned around. By the time it was focused again, Quiver's move was over. It was faster and looked tougher now.

Trevor observed the masquerain's new speed. "Charizard, fly up and use seismic toss!" Charizard flew up toward Quiver and was just about able to reach it, when Nathan called out.

"Gust."

Quiver's gust sent Charizard right back where it came from. Charizard still managed to regain movement before it hit the ground. Trevor looked at the airborne opponent. It was too fast for Trevor's slow charizard, so it had to get hit from the ground. "Don't let this continue, Charizard, use dragon dance!" By the time Charizard finished the move, it looked over at its opponent, only to see that Nathan's command had been another quiver dance.

"End this, Quiver. Scald." Quiver, who had been taught scald only recently, locked down on it's target. It fired the water, hitting its opponent, and knocking out said opponent. Steven looked at the battlefield. "Well, Charizard is unable to battle, that means that, uh, Quiver, wins."

Trevor looked over at his fallen pokemon and ran over to it. He looked up at Nathan. "I'm impressed. How did you best the advantage?"

Nathan said, nonchalantly, "I didn't use bug buzz, and then followed my typical technique. I taught it scald specifically to best fire types like that one."

Verity sat on the bleachers as they battled, or, well, as Nathan broke the predictions of everyone. "I saw him fight Pikachu," Ash said. "I knew that his training with you was working. I think that he's gonna put Quiver on the champion team."

Nathan proceeded to sit down next to the two of them. "Hey Quiver did really well out there," Ash said.

Nathan looked at the pokeball in his hand, that didn't even need to be healed. "I guess he really did." Unlike other people Ash knew, like Paul, Nathan did care about improvements, especially one as great as Quiver's. "I never asked," Ash said, "But where did you plan on taking the elite four and champion challenge?"

Nathan thought about it. It is true that he'd have to usurp whoever he was going to beat, so it better be a good battle. "Lance," he concluded.

* * *

"Hey guys," Shauna said, greeting the four already in the room, "we ready to go to lunch?"

"You bet!" Serena exclaimed. "I love girls day. I feel like it's the only time we get to see you, Shauna."

"Eheh, sorry about that," Shauna said, embarrassed.

The five girls made it down to the dining hall, got their food, and sat in one of the corner booths, which could overlook the entire dining hall from any angle you were on.

Yeah, dining hall. This probably should have been covered earlier. It was a large, oval-shaped room, which contained multiple rows of booths and tables. There were two "corner" booths, that were really just on the ends of the room. Sitting here was socially advantageous because you could see everything. The door to get in was directly in the center, in the back, and if you walked straight across from the entrance, that's where the food was. Some of this information is useful, some is not.

"Miette, who did you bribe this year for the Formal?" May asked.

"Haven't gotten to that yet, but I believe Sycamore's assigning a paper next week, so I'll do it then," Miette responded, aware of her ideas. "Of course, you're taking your secret boyfriend you've taken the past two years?"

May turned red. "That means nothing! Serena's done the same thing!" Everyone acknowledged the facts. It is true that Serena has done the same thing, and for longer. No one pointed this out before.

Serena got just as defensive. "You know the situation with that!" Also true. It was hard to not know the situation.

Shauna suggested, "Maybe you can do something different this year."

At these words, a familiar face came running over. They were out of breath. "Hey, I heard 'different'. Is she finally going to do something?" Lyra asked.

Serena turned red. "I don't even know what 'different' would entail..."

Lyra put a hand up to Serena's mouth. "There's so many options! Some are mean, and some aren't. If you're trying to get together with someone, I would suggest one of the nicer options."

"Lyra, anyone could've figured that out," Miette pointed out, annoyed.

Lyra faced the blue-haired girl. "I know what those options are, smarty. First, there's the straightforward option. Knowing you, you'll want anything but that."

"Please," Serena answered.

Lyra continued, "Additionally, you could try something with the Formal. That would be optimal, then you don't worry about anything afterward, especially how awkward it would be when he stays-"

"Lyra! I didn't tell anyone yet! How do you even know?"

"I get around," Lyra responded, slyly. Then, Lyra left, on some "very important terms". Everyone returned to the normal conversation.

"Serena," Verity asked, "Are we going to be doing those study sessions? I think I could use them."

Serena nodded. "Yeah. I think we should have one tonight. There is a test in History on Monday, right?"

"Yeah," Verity confirmed. "Who's going?"

"I memorized the unit already," Miette said blandly.

"I have, a, uh, conflict," May lied.

"I'll be with Trevor tonight in town," apologized Shauna.

"I'm training with Nathan, unfortunately," Verity replied.

"Well," Serena said, "I guess it will be me and Ash, I already told him we'd do it..." Serena went to go grab some more food.

"Well done girls," Lyra popped back up. "That wasn't so hard, was it? Now, we need to plan more..."

* * *

Serena entered the library. No one she knew was there yet. Ideally, she didn't want to be here tonight, but she didn't want to disappoint Ash. Speaking of Ash, there he was, making his way over to Serena. "Hey," he said. "Where are the others?"

Serena replied, awkwardly, "Uh, well, they all had last minute conflicts, so I guess it's just us."

Ash gave her an encouraging smile. "We can find another time. It's alright."

Serena started to look disappointed. Ash took note of this quickly. "Is something wrong?"

"Well," Serena said, "I guess its nothing. It's just that I didn't have anything else tonight, and I didn't want to just sit alone in my room while the others are out. You should go help Nathan with Verity."

"Huh?" Ash looked at her, confused. "They didn't tell me they were training tonight."

Serena laughed. "Let's give them their alone time." She sadly got up, and headed for the library door.

"Wait."

Serena turned around, to see Ash with another one of those confident smiles. "Let's go out and do something. Come on, it will be fun, and it will keep you from being cooped in your room all night."

Serena turned a bright shade of pink. Was he asking her out on a date? What was this? Is this what she wanted? "Um, alright, but what could we do?"

Ash grabbed her hand and started running out the door. "Come on, I have a great idea!"

Earlier:

 _"Hey Ash, Shauna and I are going mini-golfing tonight. You want to go with Serena? We could make it like a team thing," Trevor offered._

 _"Sounds good, Trevor, it really does, but we're having a study session tonight for History, and she's really wanted to get that started up again."_

 _"Ok," Trevor said, "But if the plans fall through, maybe you could join us."_

 _Ash noted this. "Unlikely, but if something like that happens, I'd be good with that."_

"Ash, where are we even going?" Serena asked, as she was being dragged through town. Although, she couldn't really complain. Ash was holding onto her hand the entire time, even if it meant running to an odd location in the middle of Anistar City.

"We're here!" Ash said, gesturing up to the sign above them. "Shauna and Trevor are in there. They said if the thing tonight fell through, we should go here. Funny how that worked out, didn't it?"

"I guess it is," Serena said to herself. Did Shauna plan for this to happen? Serena knew it was questionable that everyone had last-minute conflicts, but in the end, she was much happier to be here than stuck in the library learning about the Kalos War for the eighth time. She started to think about all the people who were dragged into this for it to happen.

They went inside, to see Shauna and Trevor waiting at a table in the front, with four clubs and four balls. "See , Trevor, they did show up!"

"Ash said it was unlikely, Sweetie, I am allowed to be unsure. Oh! Are you two here, uh, as a couple?"

"What? No," Ash replied, confused. "What made you think that-" Ash looked down to see Serena was still holding on to his hand. Upon noticing this, Serena quickly threw her hand back, almost knocking something over. This caused Ash and Serena to turn red.

"Well, let's get going!" Shauna said, excited.

They all had a really great time mini-golfing. Serena actually turned out to be pretty good, and her and Ash beat Shauna and Trevor easily. "Wow, I didn't see that one coming," Trevor said.

"Serena, did you ever mini-golf before?" Shauna asked.

Serena was uneasy. "Uh, no." This surprised everyone. No one expected a novice like that to beat two fifth timers. They all had a good laugh that a beginner wiped the floor with them. "Well, you two, we're heading back on the bus. You're welcome to go back with us, if you'd like," Trevor offered.

"No thanks," Ash said, speaking for both of them, although hearing his voice caught Serena's attention. "We walked here, and it's not that cold. We'll walk back."

"Hey, Ash?" Serena asked. "Do you mind if we hold hands on the way back? I might get lost." This was about the most boldfaced lie she ever told. She knew Anistar City like the back of her hand (ironic haha). But she wanted to hold Ash's hand again, and asking for that out of the blue was outside her set of skills.

Ash smiled at her. "You're right, it is really crowded tonight." He grabbed her hand, and they walked back together, at a normal pace this time. Serena's face was blushing and smiling the whole way back, but of course, Ash didn't notice.

"Hey Ash?" Serena asked. "Do you want to go to the Winter Formal again? As friends? You know?"

"Sure!" Ash replied. "I love going with you. You're always a blast to be with."

 _What?_ Serena thought. _He just the word 'love' and 'you in the same sentence.'_

* * *

"Hey, I'm back," Ash said.

"Nice going, Ketchum," Gary said.

"Huh?" Ash asked. All he did was walk in the room. Did he screw something up already?

"I heard about that little double date you had. I'm impressed. I didn't think you'd actually do it," he replied.

"Well, Ash, you were certainly right. Something big did happen today," Clemont said.

"Guys, cool it. I just took her out because I realized she was upset about the study session falling through. All of you were supposed to be there, you know that?"

"Prior plans, Ketchum. You never checked with us," Gary said.

"Oh, I guess you're right."

* * *

Serena walked in, and closed the door behind her. As she turned around, she was greeted by applause from everyone in the room. "Well done, Sernea, and I caught that last part, too, asking to hold his hand again. We know you basically have that city map memorized," Shauna said, still clapping.

"See, girls? I knew Lyra was right about the whole mean thing. It did work out," May mentioned.

"Mean thing? Was what I did mean? Oh no..." Serena panicked.

Miette laughed at her. "Such a frantic child. We were the mean ones, we all hung out here tonight. We had no conflicts. Sorry for lying, but it worked out, didn't it?"

Serena smiled at her friends. "Thank you. It did work out."

Verity got up. "I'll do it." The group looked at her. "Oh, sorry, no context. Oops. I meant I'll go do the mind reading for Serena. I think it's time we know."

Serena had to restrain herself from screaming this late at night. "Thank you so much Verity!"

* * *

 **Uh, so this took a bit longer. Couple notes:**

 **Yes, Masquerain can learn scald, as a tm, for those skeptical of that.**

 **Title was a bit misleading for this chapter, given what's previously happened. But its accurate for this chapter, so eh.**

 **March is one hell of a month for me. I'd expect production to start slowing up for this month, but it's going to increase again in April. I'll still upload as often as possible.**

 **Leave reviews letting me what you thought, or any questions you have. Also be sure to check out my other stories, of you want (don't read Him unless you're into bad writing, unfinished stories, inaccuracies, and plot holes).**

 **See you next time, whenever that is.**


	8. The Alternate Motive

**Why is no one speaking**

* * *

Chapter 8: The Alternate Motive

Nathan made his way down to the front office, and knocked on the door. "Ah, Nathan, we've been expecting you," a voice said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Nathan responded. "You told me there was a way I could officially challenge the Elite Four and Champion of Johto, correct?"

The man nodded. "As professor in the region, I was sent here to register you for the league. You'll need eight Johto badges to do an official league challenge."

"Ah, thought so," Nathan said to himself, angrily. "This is going to push back my plans." He looked up at Elm. "I just need eight badges, there is no more I need?" Elm shook his head. "Thank you, sir. I hope to see you in the region when I arrive."

Nathan walked out, holding his official trainer card. He had one more stop before getting to his room.

"Hello, is this the attendance office?" He asked, not quite sure where he really was on campus.

"It is," said the person at the desk. "How may I help you?"

Nathan handed in a piece of paper. "That should explain my reason for leaving for Holiday early. I also plan on being back to Anistar High roughly thirty-six hours after classes resume, if that won't be too much of an issue."

The lady read the paper:

 _To whom it may concern,_ _I have below a photocopy of my newly licensed Johto trainer card. I am requesting a temporary exit from the campus, five days prior to the dismissal of classes for Holiday. I am going to be taking the league challenge over that time, and hope to complete it as soon as possible. I should be back on time, but I have put in a thirty-six hour buffer for my arrival time. Hopefully, this does not happen and I should return January ,Nathan, room 3-29_

"All good. You should be able to leave at your requested time, which is three days from now."

Nathan nodded. "Thank you."

"You know," she said, "you would be missing the Winter Formal."

"Unfortunately," Nathan lied.

* * *

"So how'd our little plan go?" Lyra asked, as she approached the girls at lunch.

"We did what you said, and it went beyond well for Serena. I'm quite impressed, you really know your stuff here," Miette complemented.

"Beyond well?" Lyra asked. "What did you-"

"They held hands!" May shouted, causing them all to turn to her and her sudden outburst. "Well, they did," she said, trying to defend herself.

Lyra smiled. "I'm glad you're not dying over your mysterious rival anymore, Serena. Anyway, the rest of you, we need to start planning on our Phase 2. Verity, are you good for tonight? I heard Nathan's leaving early to take the league challenge, so you'll need to do that sooner rather than later." She winked, which was weird.

Verity was spooked by the wink, slightly. "I'm going tonight, there's no need to worry about that."

"That's when I'm going to worry the most about that," Serena said.

"I already have it all planned out," Verity announced. "I'll go with a gift too, so he'll be more accepting. Let's hope he doesn't read through that." She laughed at her last statement. It was true that Nathan was socially and physically a powerful person, but no one knew how he would function in a situation like this. Verity was prepared to deal with a sudden change to a nice person, or dealing with a, as impossible as it sounded, an even more rotten Nathan.

"Here's hoping it is planned out," Serena said.

"Just one thing," Verity said. "I can't confirm whether or not this works. Nathan could easily claim he doesn't want to get involved, and ignore it. Anyways, whatever happens, you still need to follow through, and sooner rather than later. Ash will forget about last night soon, if you do nothing about it."

Serena looked at her friend. "You're right about that, thanks for the advice!"

"Serena!" Ash called over. This startled the heck out of Serena. Did he hear anything they just said? Hopefully not. Serena noticed him coming over. _Quick, change the subject,_ she thought.

"Hey, Ash," she said slowly, looking around. All her friends had wide eyes, that were sarcastically gesturing toward her crush. "Sorry we couldn't do the thing last night, we should try another time when everyone else doesn't cancel last minute."

Ash nodded. "We should, but I did really have fun last night." This caused Serena to fluster up.

"Well, how about we do it more often?" Serena asked, then instantly covering her mouth when she realized what she said.

Ash looked at her. It seemed like a good idea. "Sure, who would we go with?"

"We'll figure that out later." Serena couldn't handle the tension of this conversation anymore. She had already accidentally asked him out, which worked surprisingly well. "It looks like your friends are signalling you. See you around!" She gave him one last smile as she left. "What did I just do?" she asked her friends.

"Made progress. It seemed evident to me. Perhaps you need social assistance from the girl who can't write for her life," Miette said sarcastically.

"Miette, I think you're too smart for your own good," Serena retorted.

* * *

Verity knocked on the door. She wasn't sure how she even got dragged in this far, but now she was at Nathan's door. This was not how she expected her evening to go. After waiting about twenty-five seconds, the future champion answered the door. "Oh, you."

"Nice to see you too," Verity joked. Of course it was never a pleasure to see someone who had a mouth smarter than his battling skill.

"What do you want, I'm busy preparing for my league challenge, as you heard."

"League challenge? Tell me more," Verity asked, in effort to try and be nice.

"Well, by the rules of the league, I'm not actually allowed to challenge the league until after I've graduated from my senior year. So, I will be challenging them exactly a week after the fact. However, the league has special requirements, such as eight badges and a successful passage of, 'Victory Road', before I can actually take the Johto League challenge. So I'm doing such over Holiday, and as of now, I'm finalizing my team." Verity could see on Nathan's desk a list of many pokemon names, some crossed off, some circled, and some untouched as of now.

"Will Quiver be joining you for the challenge?" Verity asked.

"Of course, you saw his potential. Quiver is going to be key, I just need to put a few different moves on him. Scald won't be needed, so I plan on using Psychic instead," Nathan gestured to the board, with a set of moves, and the types it would counter for all four moves on the pokemon he's selected so far. "Now, what do you want?"

"Oh, yeah, that." Verity had forgotten that she needed to get her task done. "So, Serena sent me to see if you could, well, teach me to read minds." Verity handed Nathan the note she was given:

 _Nathan,_ _Please do this. I apologize for being wrong three months ago. It was wrong of me to be arrogant. I just need this to be secured as fast as possible, as someone is on my tail.-Serena_

Nathan looked at the note. "Someone's also going after Ash? I don't think I noticed. Your request is odd, I'll tell you that, but I think it's just _so odd_ that you volunteered to do this."

"What do you mean?" Verity said, turning red.

"Please remember, the first day I met you. I said your mind was not excluded in the ones I could read. Yours is, quite frankly, one of the easier ones of your group."

Verity took a step back. "What's that supposed to mean."

Nathan smirked at her. "My apologies, I believe I lied earlier. I knew someone was after Ash before she did. I tried to warn her, but it is clear she only now wants my assistance, in removing the threat likely."

Verity was confused. "Well, what are you going to do about the threat?"

Nathan looked at her, with glaring eyes. "Well, it will be easier to find them then expected, as the threat appears to be in my doorway now."

Verity was speechless. She knew this would happen. It was only a matter of time before Nathan directly said it. And every ounce of what he said was true. "I-"

"No need to try and explain yourself. You see, you already have." Nathan was as rotten as he could possibly be. Then, he stopped being rude. "I don't want to get involved in that portion of the conflict. My goal is to become a leading psychiatrist, not someone who just accuses people. I want to teach someone, how to do what I can do, so it can be used everywhere in the field. I guess, I can teach you."

Verify looked at him, smiling. "Thank you so much!"

Nathan got rotten again. "Look, what you do with that is none of my concern. You will learn, and learn my way. You don't have another choice. Is this understood?"

Verify nodded slowly. "I guess I do, what option do I have?"

It was a hard decision to make. Serena was her friend, but this was Ash. Ash was on the line, and Serena was making progress. It could have been stopped, but she decided to help her friend there. Maybe it was time she helped herself.

Nathan gestured toward the board. "I have work to do tonight, but your lessons begin tomorrow."

Verity faked a salute. "Roger that."

Verity walked out, concerned with the decision she was making. What if the others found out? Would she ever be welcomed again? As long as she played it cool, maybe they wouldn't know.

Miette and Lyra awaited her outside. "Well, how did it go?" Lyra asked, eagerly. "Will Serena be getting what she wants?"

Verity spoke calmly. "Nathan is in the middle of a huge planning session for his Holiday trip to Johto. I wouldn't expect him to change his mind on his decision. But in my opinion, I think Serena is going to be fine without Nathan's help."

"Darn, well, we'll have to see if Serena can do it. She'll be strong on her own, I agree with you," Lyra said, with an odd look that faced Verity. She knew something was up, but didn't want to accuse anyone yet.

Miette, on the other hand, had no problem with being as rotten as Nathan was. "So, when you say he won't get involved, does that mean for Serena, or both of you? It's vital we know."

Verity stepped back. She didn't expect them to know already. Was she really being that obvious with it? No one else must've noticed, as they all probably still have some thought that she had a crush on Nathan. That part confused her, as Nathan was so rotten, and they all said it. "Uh, I only asked about Serena."

Lyra stepped between the two. "She agreed to help her friend, and that's good she put other's needs over her own. Thank you," she said to Verity.

Technically, everything Verity said was right. Nathan was planning like an absolute madman, and she didn't think he would change his mind. But what scared her the most is that she thought that Serena would be fine on her own. Now her challenge was to win Ash and not let Serena know in the process, whatever that would take.

* * *

Nathan watched as she left. This was an odd request he had been given. Of course, he knew about this long before. He was just waiting for a proper time to officially call Verity out on it, and now seemed like a decent time. He sat down back at his board. He had chosen four members of his team so far. "Hm," he said to himself. "If I put focus blast on Ampre, maybe I won't need you..." He was lost. He had a lot of good pokemon, and picking six was no easy feat. He then realized that he'd have to find the entire team tonight to finalize it, so he'd be ready for helping Verity in lying to her friends. Or maybe he didn't. After all, why would her needs come before his? They shouldn't.

* * *

 **Ok, like I said, these would take longer.**

 **So we know the other person now. The title make sense now. Woo.**

 **Additionally, if you haven't read the first chapter of The Secret Mega yet, I implore you to at least read the preliminary notes. It should explain my upload methods for the next month or two while I attempt to actually finish a story.**

 **As always, leave a review, or check out other stuff. Either is good, I guess.**


	9. Sibling Day

**Lol is anyone still reading my stories?**

* * *

Chapter 9: Sibling Day

It was, for some, one of the most exciting days of the year. For others, it was one of the worst. Sibling Day was among the greatest things at Anistar High, at least, according to the administrators. Some people loved seeing all the younger versions of their friends. Serena, for example, took a particular liking to Clemont's younger sister, and even agreed to hang out with her last year, which took the burden of watching her off Clemont. Clemont will be looking forward to that again.

Although, for the most part, most people did not have any younger siblings. The day was meant to get the younger kids excited, and show them that while the school is prestigious, it could still be a lot of fun.

Clemont walked in to the boys' room, out of breath. Gary, Trevor, and Ash all looked at him, holding tightly in his other hand, a small child. She had golden hair, like her older brother, and was wearing a small yellowish purse-thing. "Well, you all remember Bonnie from last year," Clemont said. The other boys greeted her, and as soon as Clemont let go she started running off. Clemont had to go and grab her immediately. "Bonnie, where are you running off to?"

Bonnie playfully tried to escape her brother's grip. "I want to go see Serena!"

Clemont sighed. "If it's alright with you guys, I might go drop her off there first."

"Please," Gary said. It's not that he disliked Bonnie, but he couldn't really stand anyone this excited this early.

Ash got up at the same time. "I think I'll go too. I haven't gone anywhere yet today." Clemont and the rest of them looked at him weird. "What?"

* * *

"Oh my gosh, you're all keepers!" Bonnie squealed, and started running around, trying to get each of their attention. "Please take care of my-" Bonnie was grabbed by an Aipom Arm, Clemont's most recent invention. This one hadn't blown up yet, and things were looking quite hopeful.

"Bonnie, what did I tell you about that? And besides, none of them are available anyway," he joked. He put her down. "Now, please don't cause Serena too much trouble."

"I won't! I'm always really nice for her!" Clemont looked over to Serena, as if he was fact checking the statement.

"She's always wonderful when she's with us. I think she just likes embarrassing you, Clemont."

"I sure hope it's just that," Clemont said. He then gestured back to the other boy in the doorway. Serena noticed Ash was standing there.

"Ash!" Serena said, almost jumping up out of shock. "W-what are you doing here? Clemont was just dropping Bonnie off!"

Ash laughed. "Eh, I just wanted an excuse to get up and move around. If there's a day when we don't have classes and I don't find an excuse to move, I won't."

Ash and Clemont waved goodbye to Bonnie and the rest. On the way out, Clemont turned back and gave one last instruction. "No matchmaking. Understood?" Bonnie nodded as they left.

"Serena?" Bonnie asked with big eyes, "Can I please do matchmaking?"

Serena was conflicted. "Well, your brother said no, but I don't see a problem if he isn't her-"

Bonnie jumped up in the air. "Yay!" She went to go find the white board she knew was in every room. She knew the school better than some of the students did. She grabbed the one in their room. Although, this hadn't been used since Miette's late night presentation to Serena, about her competition. "What's this?" she asked.

"Nothing of importance," Miette said. "Here, let me erase it for you so you can use it." It was Miette's way of being nice and destroying the evidence.

"Actually, what is that, Miette? I don't recognize it," May said.

"Yeah, me neither," said Verity.

"There's really nothing to worry about," Serena said, realizing what was on the board. Because she directly asked, she knew that the others knew about her having competition, and that Miette knew who it was. What they didn't know is that the drawing perfectly depicted who is was, as Lyra, who participated in the sketch, has no ability to draw in the sneaky way Miette does. Serena did not realize this, as Miette showed this to her very late.

Bonnie grabbed the board out of her hands, half erased. She started examining what was left, a stick figure wearing a hat, which was supposed to resemble Serena, and a boy wearing a hat. "Hey, this looks like the boy that was just here," Bonnie said, pointing the the boy in a hat on the board.

"Yep, we were playing matchmaker while you were gone," Serena said, trying to facade the situation.

"And this one looks like you, Serena," Bonnie said, showing her favorite member in the room.

"It, uh, could be," Serena said. Bonnie looked at her with big eyes, eager that something will form. At this moment, there was a knock on the door. Shauna got up and answered it.

"Oh, hi, Lyra," Shauna said. "What brings you here today?"

"Honestly, I had nothing to do, so I was going to introduce you to my younger sister, Crystal. She's a bit shy but I'm sure she'll-" She stopped. "Oh my gosh, who is this little bundle of joy?" Lyra squealed, pointing at Bonnie.

"That's Clemont's sister, Bonnie," May said.

"We're playing matchmaker!" Bonnie shouted.

Lyra laughed. "You know, I'm like the matchmaker at Anistar High," she said.

"Really?" Bonnie said, excited.

"I am," Lyra said. "Right now I'm working on getting Serena together with-"

"Lyra, that's a good time to stop," Serena warned.

"I'm trying to get her with-"

"The boy in the drawing!" Bonnie shouted, excited she made a conclusion. She pointed to the half-erased board.

"Uh, Miette," Lyra cautioned, "I could get my board if we need one."

"The crucial information she can't see is gone. Nothing to worry about," Miette concluded.

"Uh, guys," Verity warned. "We shouldn't drag Clemont's little sister into this. Let's just let it go for today."

"I think that's a good idea," Shauna said. "Let's go show her around, more than she already knows. Maybe we could find a battle."

"Ooh, that sounds like fun," Bonnie said. They all agreed to go see a battle, which was pretty likely to be happening. Especially on days off, the battle students worked really hard to learn from their opponents.

* * *

"Pyro, fire blast," Nathan ordered. A pokemon, which wasn't noticed to be Nathan's at first, obeyed the command. The girls, now arriving, were confused. Who was this. They never noticed it with him, and he was only supposed to have one pokemon on him, right?

"Don't let it hit you, Pikachu!" Ash ordered. Pikachu barely managed to dodge the attack from its fast opponent.

"Whoa, a salamence?" Verity asked, temporarily interrupting the battle.

Nathan looked over, very briefly, then focused back. "Pyro, ascend." Pyro followed these orders. Nathan turned back to the rest of the girls. "Oh, I see you brought a small child. Clemont's sister, I'm guessing. Well, small girl, you're in luck. The two strongest trainers here are us two, and you're in for a good battle."

As a command of Ash's Pikachu to use thunderbolt is heard in the background, an annoyed Bonnie responds. "Wow, he sure has an ego..." At this point, Pikachu shot up a thunderbolt, but Pyro was too high at this point.

"Do it now, Pyro." Nathan said, calmly. At this, Pyro unleashed a powerful draco meteor attack, which hit Pikachu dead on, knocking it out.

"Wow, Nathan," Ash said, amazed. "Pyro sure is strong. Is he on your team?"

"Of course. Why else would I have transferred him over? Each member of the team is going to get some basic training here, in the last week and a half before the big race for eight badges in Johto," Nathan answered, with a little more attitude than anyone wanted. He looked over at Verity. "I'm glad, that you managed to identify a pokemon discovered years ago. That's good news."

"Whatever," Verity mocked.

"Serena, why do they always fight?" Bonnie asked. "You never fight with-"

"Because they aren't in a relationship, although it always looks like it," Serena said, answering before Bonnie could finish her sentence.

Nathan stood there, looking at the girl, contemplating the assumption she just made. "I guess the situation gave that presence off. I'm impressed with your ability to comprehend social situations, girl. Maybe I could teach you as well." He said that last sentence with a bit more tone and mockery to it.

"Who else are you teaching your psychology stuff to?" Ash asked. "You said that like you were teaching someone else."

Nathan looked at Verity, then the rest of the group. He focused back on Verity, who he gave a death stare, and then a mockingly polite smile. "My apologies, I guess I phrased that wrong," He responded. He proceeded to give Verity a "you're welcome" look.

"He's weird," Bonnie whispered to Serena, who she was now holding on to.

Ash came back from healing up Pikachu, which he had just left to go do. "Oh, Ash, so glad you're here," Shauna said, staring at Serena the whole time. "Trevor wants to rematch you two on Friday, at the mini-golf place. He claims he was 'not trying all the way' or something."

"Works for me," Ash said. "Serena?"

"Yeah!" She said, almost immediately. This got Bonnie and everyone else's attention, but only Ash didn't notice the ungodly quick response time.

"Bonnie," Lyra said to her new favorite person, "They are going to the Winter Formal together." This caused Serena and Ash to get pretty red.

"We're only going as friends," Serena clarified. "Lyra, you haven't told us about your date yet."

Lyra looked at them. "I have time. Miette hasn't found one either."

Miette glared at her, as if she didn't think Miette had a plan. "There's a paper due on Wednesday, which will be my bribe for someone. Unlike you, I have this worked out."

Lyra pouted at the fact she was put down like that. "Verity, you aren't going with anyone yet, right?"

Verity looked at her nervously. "Uh, no. I don't really know that many people. Maybe I won't go."

"Oh, no!" May shouted (yep she's still here). "You have to go! It's a ton of fun!"

"That reminds me," Ash said to May, "where's your brother?"

"Uh," May said, "learning. That's what he uses Sibling Day to do. I didn't want any part of that."

Lyra looked at the boy who now had a salamence, "Nathan, you know the poor girl who doesn't have a date yet? I'm sure you don't have one either, take her!"

Bonnie looked at the older matchmaker with wide eyes. "Wow, you really are the matchmaker!"

Nathan laughed a mean laugh. "Regrettably I will be in Johto by next Friday. I will not be attending."

Lyra looked at him, with a sinister smile. "You don't think you can take down eight gyms in two weeks? You hardly have to worry about travel, with Pyro there."

Nathan looked at her, upset she tried to call him out. "You know what? You're right. My break was really just to be a buffer, but I think this will be a breeze. After all, you got eight badges in Johto, correct?"

Lyra stared at him. "Uh, I mean, I did, but that took longer."

Nathan nodded. "Exactly. I won't take as long. I can't believe I never accounted for the fact that travel wouldn't be an issue, a silly mistake on my part. He began to run off.

Lyra and Verity called after him. "Where are you going?"

"To attendance to change my absences!" He called back. "Get ready, Verity, I am going to participate in tradition!" And with that, he was gone.

Lyra noticed a small blush on Verity's face. She silently signaled to Miette, who also took note of this.

* * *

 **Bonnie was my favorite character (human) of the Kalos series, and the way this fic works out doesn't really give her a spot, so I did this, and advanced some plot. Additionally, the AU happens in the sense that the events of XY/XYZ never happened, so Bonnie would not know who Ash was.**

 **Lyra has battled, and is from Johto. We haven't seen her battle here yet, but we will.**

 **But really, though. I have gotten like two reviews on the past three chapters. I'm not sure if this is being read or not, but I will continue regardless. This is not going to be another _Him_. I won't let that happen.**

 **Like I said before, March really sucks for me. I will write another chapter of The Secret Mega (which literally has no reader feedback), before this one. Please at least follow that one along. I think it will be good. Come April I will be unloading chapters like crazy to make up for my inactivity.**

 **So leave a review, I guess. Or don't that seems to be the trend. And, see you maybe soon.**


	10. Advice and Confrontation

**Why is no one reading :(**

* * *

Chapter 10: Advice and Confrontation

Verity looked around. She was waiting for her to show up, but she never did. Although, she was notoriously late to everything, so this might be another one of those occasions.

"Sorry I'm late!" she said, running in and almost out of breath. "I would've been here sooner but I wasn't," she said, leaving Verity confused.

"Well, anyway, thanks for showing up, Lyra. You seem like the best person to handle this situation."

Lyra nodded. "Of course I am. Now, what is it that you needed?" Of course, Lyra had a plan here, if it didn't come from Verity tonight, she was going to tell her. She had already suspected that she agreed to mind-reading lessons, which Nathan agreed to. Bonnie was actually a huge help to this, as she could play under the facade that she was just playing with the little girl, when she was actually acquiring key information about Verity. She sure wasn't academically the smartest, but if there was a valedictorian for social skills, Lyra would have it easily.

"Well, before I start, you have to promise not to laugh at anything I think," Verity pleaded.

"Of course," Lyra said. "I'm not awful like your friend."

"Oh," Verity said. "And you can't tell anyone what we're talking about, especially Serena."

Lyra knew where this one was going, but she decided to stay quiet for now. "Ok, go ahead."

Verity began. "So I know I'm super new here, and this isn't at all what you should be worrying about, but I sort of have a big problem. There's two guys I think I like, but I don't know which one I like more."

"Well," Lyra started, grinning, "I think Ash is quite a catch. But of course, there is someone who has a much better chance. Although, when was the last time Nathan was actually at one of your training sessions?"

"I didn't say it was Ash," Verity said nervously.

"I did," Lyra said. "I am the grandmaster of everything social. Sorry I am such a pest, but I already know the two people."

"Oh," Verity said. "This makes it much easier to deal with, with you at least."

"Of course it does, I'm such an approachable person!" Lyra exclaimed.

"Anyway, Nathan hasn't been there since the night he rejected to teach me."

"Rejected?" Lyra asked. "I think not. Do not try and best me here. Honesty will get you places. Trying to fool me will not."

"Fine," Verity said, grudgingly.

"Well, with that out of the way, I think my time to evaluate the situation will be best done after the Winter Formal. I would say that you should go with Nathan. You have no chance of getting Ash, as they are going 'as friends' together, and it might prove my hypothesis." That was a pretty big word for Lyra to use, so Verity wanted to know where exactly this was going.

"Hypothesis? What do you mean?"

"I've figured out all the new kids by now. Nathan took some time, but like I said, I'm the grandmaster. Nathan would in no universe just ask someone to a dance because of tradition. If he actually didn't want to go, he would have been training for the Johto gyms." Lyra was quick and to the point with this.

"So what exactly are you getting at?"

"Easy," Lyra responded. "I think he likes you."

That hit Verity hard. If this kid, the future champion of Johto, or whatever he was trying to be, had real life feelings for her, this would draw problems. She definitely liked Ash more, and she really just needed Lyra to determine her chances. It seems that she did that ages ago though, and those chances were little to none, so she says. Although, if there's one thing her mom taught her, it was that you should never give up, and always try, especially if no one was watching. But then again, Nathan was an option, right? _Of course not, Verity,_ she thought. _How could even think he's an option?_

"So, what you're saying is-"

"Go with what you have, for now. If you are truly evil enough to rip Ash from Serena's sad and depressed arms, I don't think you'd have an issue, especially with your mind reading abilities I'm not supposed to know about," Lyra confirmed. "I have a practice battle tomorrow. You should watch. They'll both be there."

* * *

Ash and Serena made their way to the battlefield. They wanted to see a fight where two very skilled trainers fought. She didn't like to, but Lyra was very impressive at the activity. Nathan only agreed to a practice battle because she beat all eight gyms already. Nathan stood on the other end of Lyra. "This one's strong, so watch out," Nathan prefaced. He never admitted that his pokemon were strong, but this one was apparently strong enough to earn the title in his eyes.

"Don't think I'm gonna hold back against a badgeless," Lyra said. "Meganium, let's do it!" Lyra sent out a Megainum, which looked fierce and ready to go.

"Huh, looks like the new move will come in handy. Ampre, you're up." Nathan sent out Ampre. He was looking just as fierce. Ampre wore a scarf, with a round rock holding the scarf together. Ampre looked back at Nathan. "Not yet, kiddo. Let's see what we're dealing with. Signal beam." Ampre obeyed the order, shooting a multicolored beam at the target.

Lyra laughed. "Tank it, then use earthquake." Meganuim tanked the attack, and responded with a powerful earthquake, which Nathan had not ordered Ampre to dodge.

"Why did they take the hits?" Serena asked Ash, as she started moving way too close to him.

Ash looked at the battlefield. "I've seen this before." He thought back to his battles with Paul. "They are testing each other's strength. They knew neither move would kill, but it would do something. If I had to guess, Nathan will hold back on mega-evolving for now."

Nathan observed the hit that was delivered. "I see. That's a good move. Ampre, how about we use a real move? Try a thunderbolt, see what it does." Ampre started preparing a thunderbolt.

"Meganium, sun time!" Lyra called. Meganium began to take in sunlight.

"Ash, is that-" Serena started.

"Yup, solarbeam. I'm not sure what Nathan's going for, but given the bulk of these two, it could be along battle," Ash said.

"Aww, really?" Serena asked. She pretended to start falling asleep.

Meganium fired a solarbeam at Ampre, who took that hit as well. Ampre's thunderbolt landed, but did minimal damage. "I think it's time, buddy," Nathan said. He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a keystone. "Ampre, mega evove!" The Ampharosite on Ampre's scarf began to react with Nathan's keystone. Ampre grew long white hair, and looked bulkier and stronger too.

Lyra observed this. "I was waiting for this. Meganium, spore!" Meganium fired out small cotton-like spheres at Ampre.

"Ampre, dodge that, and use dragon pulse," Nathan ordered calmly. Ampre barely made it out of the way, and fired out a powerful dragon pulse, hitting Meganium. "Good," Nathan said.

Ash was watching the battle intensely. He was learning some interesting strategies from this. Lyra's meganium seemed to be ready to cover anything, except the dragon typing on Ampre. What would she do about this? He kept watching, hoping a result would come out of this.

Serena was not watching the battle so intensely. She followed through from earlier, successfully "falling asleep" on Ash's lap. At this point, Verity walked into the field area. She looked over at Ash, who was currently housing a sleeping Serena on his lap. Sighing, she sat on the other side of the field.

"Ampre, one more dragon pulse should do it," Nathan mentioned. The pokemon nodded and fired.

"Not so fast," Lyra said. "Meganium, moonblast." Meganium shot out a powerful fairy attack, but to no avail. Dragon pulse had already hit, knocking the grass starter out. Ampre stepped out of the way of the uncontrolled moonblast.

Lyra looked down at her fainted pokemon. "Well, if I had to say, you should have no issue at all. Ampre will be of good use in many gyms."

Nathan laughed, while returning Ampre. "I didn't even use my new move. Shame."

Ash jumped off the bleachers, nearly knocking down Serena, who caught herself at the last minute. "What was the move you taught Ampre?"

"Fire blast," Nathan responded. "Took effort too, but I didn't get to use it."

Verity got down slowly, and walked up. "I didn't think an ampharos could learn fire blast."

"Well, it can't," Nathan said. "I was deciding whether to put focus blast or fire punch on it, and I thought, 'why not both?', so I tried combining them. It worked."

"Evidently," Verity said.

"Ash," Serena said, getting up, "I know you said it would take a while, but we're late now to go see Trevor and Shauna."

"Oh, right! Well, see you guys," Ash said. As they left, Serena grabbed onto his hand. It was like a tradition thing they did now, or at least that's what Serena told Ash.

Verity started walking back to her room. "I have to go pick an outfit for the Formal, since, I'm apparently going." She seemed to have adopted Nathan's sarcastic attitude toward everything.

"Whatever," Nathan responded, as he watched her leave. "Lyra, I didn't expect you to have moonblast on your meganium. I am quite impressed."

Lyra looked at him. "You aren't the greatest at avoiding awkward conversations, bud. I know a crush when I see one. You have your expertise, and I have mine."

Nathan laughed. "I can be nice every once in a while. I'm only going to make her not so upset about not going with Ash. Bedsides, had you not challenged my abilities, I would be gone pretty soon. Maybe I know your 'special area' better then you do."

Lyra growled. "We'll see this Friday."

"If you manage to get there," Nathan teased. "You don't have a date. I can tell."

Lyra growled again. "Ok, fine, I don't have one yet. I have a backup plan, but I really don't want to use it."

"You're running out of time, you might as well."

* * *

"Ash are you sure Serena doesn't cheat?" Trevor jokingly asked, on the way back.

"I'm sure, Trevor. Sorry we won again," Ash joked back.

"Ash, did you do it?" Gary asked as they walked in the room.

"Do what?" Ash questioned.

"Ask her out, Ash. This wasn't hard to figure out," Clemont said. "Even I did."

Ash looked at the room. "I'll see how Holiday goes before considering your wild ideas."

"Holiday? Won't you be back in Kanto with me?" Gary said.

"Uh, about that," Ash responded. "Mimey's pretty sick, so to avoid contagion my mom's having me stay at a different hou-"

"Oh my gosh, Ash, that's incredible!" Gary exclaimed. "That's a good idea, though. Grace could be pretty hard on you if you ask her out before."

"Gary, for the last time, nothing is happening at the dance," Ash said. Grinning, he smiled at Gary. "And even if something did, you won't be there to see it."

Gary pouted. "I can't believe this. I should be the first one with a date, and I'll probably be the last. Even Clemont got one!"

"Well," Clemont said. "Maybe you're like, someone's last resort, just to get there, like you want."

"Unlikely," Gary concluded. The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Who in the world is trying to reach us at this ungodly hour?" Gary asked to no one, getting the door. He opened it up to Lyra.

"Is this urgent?" Ash asked. "It's kinda late."

Lyra growled. "It couldn't be any less urgent."

"Ok, understood. Goodbye," Gary said, closing the door.

Lyra smirked. "Ok, Gary. Seems you don't want to spy on Ash and Serena at the dance?"

Gary opened the door up very quickly. "Let's do it."

* * *

 **As Lyra mentioned, she is only taking Gary for functional purposes. Don't expect anything more there.**

 **Uh, leave a review, assuming someone sees this. Leave two, or three, I just need someone to confirm that these are being read. It's hard writing off negative support like I was at the beginning, but the lack of anything at all makes it even harder.**

 **The Winter Formal's up next. Brace yourselves.**


	11. The Winter Formal

**People spoke.**

 **People are** **reading.**

 **That's all I needed. Thanks. Now, as I said, brace yourselves.**

* * *

Chapter 11: The Winter Formal

Every year, the student council really outdoes themselves with the Winter Formal. This year was no exception. They rented the Anistar Gym for the Formal this year, and it was decked out in all sorts of great decorations. Dawn, the student council president, has been waiting since freshmen year to plan this, and she's been basically doing it for the past four years anyway.

This year's theme was regional variation, which was supposed to celebrate the important parts of each region, or something. There was a huge sculpture of the Brass Tower, the Anistar Sundial, and the Weather Institute. The battle requirements were odd this year. All who were participating were given a second pokemon, of a different region than the one currently with you. The second one could either be transferred over, or given out at the Formal. The prize this year, was a mystery egg. Not even Dawn knew what was in it.

The food was just as good as everyone expected. There were all sorts of different foods, for both humans and pokemon. This was one of the better years of the winter formal.

Lyra and Gary were the first to enter the 'hall', out of the entire school. They weren't holding hands or anything, and Gary wasn't even dressed up super nice, neither was Lyra. "Do we really have to show up this early?" Gary asked, impatient.

Lyra sighed. "You know, for someone who _really_ wanted to find out more about Ash and Serena tonight, you sure complain a lot. We're here this early because we need to plan out things, and I know Ash won't be here on time. Also, I need to explain what you need to do while I'm at the battle competition, and that's gonna take a while with your thick skull."

"Out of curiosity," Gary asked, "what does the battle competition have to do with our plan?"

"I'm allowed to still have fun tonight," Lyra retorted, annoyed. "Look, just make sure you watch, but never get too close to them. The Gym's big, so it would be understandable if you never truly saw him. Just stay alert."

"Yes, Madam," Gary teased.

* * *

"Hello all!" Dawn said, greeting everyone. "I want to welcome all of you to my Winter Formal! This year's theme, if you haven't already heard, is regional variation, celebrating the greatness of the many regions we all come from. Please enjoy the special regional music heard throughout the night and the great food from out very own culinary students! Now, as your president, it is with great honor to announce this year's Winter Formal, started!"

There were a few cheers for the speech, but everyone just started going around, and tried things. Like food.

Ash and Serena showed up together. They were dressed in a matching light blue dress and tuxedo combination. It made sense for most couples, or dates, to go in matching stuff. It was more of an optional tradition thing, but most people found it fun to do. "Where do you want to go first?" Ash asked.

"I don't know," Serena answered. She looked over at a food table. "How about you show me some of the great food from Kanto?"

"Aw, man, all the food's great in Kanto!" Ash said, grabbing Serena's hand and taking her over to the table.

Little did they know a total of three people were watching them.

"What do you see from your perspective?" Lyra asked.

"Eh, nothing. Getting food," Gary said, bored. "This isn't as good as I thought it would be."

"You are so impatient," Lyra nagged. "I'll have to do all this tonight. Just be ready when I go to battle. I plan on being there a while."

"You have to fight the Hoenn boy," Gary said. "The one you lost to."

"I'll win this time," Lyra said confidently.

As Ash took Serena over, Verity was watching from a distance. "Verity."

Verity was so confused. How does fate do this to her? Why does she have an impossible goal? "Verity."

"Verity!" Nathan called. Verity shot her head over to the boy, waiting there. "You can either drool over the boy all night and be sad, or have fun."

"Who said you were fun?" Verity teased.

"Science. And your tone of voice. Oh, and my ability to have fun." Nathan was very sure of himself here.

"My tone of voice?" Verity was legitimately confused.

"What I meant," Nathan said, "was that your tone of voice implied you did believe me from the beginning, and that you do think I can be fun." Nathan's ego was filling the room now.

"Prove it," Verity teased again.

Nathan was at an impasse. He didn't expect to make it this far. Of course, failure was not an option, especially with Verity. _Hold on,_ Nathan said to himself, _Why does that matter? Why am I even here? I need to be on a plane to Johto tonight. And besides that, why should proving to Verity that I can be fun matter? Oh, right, it doesn't._ "Well," Nathan said, "I don't need to prove it, because I'm right."

"By traditional roles, you basically have to do whatever I say tonight. You said we went because of tradition." Verity was more confident than Nathan now. Don't get used to this. Really, don't.

Nathan let out a small growl. "Just, go back to drooling over the boy."

Verity was caught off guard by that last remark. Not that Nathan said it, but she realized something when she said it. Nathan was able to captivate her, with something so stupid, but it still took her mind off Ash. Impressive. However, there was still a problem, specifically that Ash was near Serena all the time now. There had to be a way to separate them.

* * *

"Hey, idiot," Lyra said.

"What could you possibly want?" Gary shot back.

"Look, I don't know if you care, but Verity just laughed at something Nathan said. That proves my other thing.

"Focus on the task at hand, Lyra." Gary was angry his partner was not on task.

"Well, it's about to get worse. The battle tourney's starting. You'll be on your own for a while. I don't plan on losing." With that, Lyra left Gary there.

* * *

The battle opened up with a tough battle. "Pikachu, Donphan, let's do it!" Ash sent out the two pokemon from his pokeballs.

Lyra observed the opponents. "Fair enough. Meganium, Togekiss, let's go!" Lyra called out her partners as well.

Ash called out the first attacks. "Pikachu, thunderbolt on Togekiss! Donphan, start getting a rollout going!" Both pokemon obeyed the orders. Pikachu filled up with electricity, and Donphan began rolling over to the flying and fairy type as well.

Lyra looked at Ash's attacks. "Interesting, but this'll leave an open shot for a strong attack! Meganium, start getting the sun!" Meganium started to glow, and take in sunlight.

Serena was standing on the side, nervously watching. "Please be careful," she said to herself. Verity saw her, and went over to go comfort her. She planned on doing this by taking her mind of the battle at hand. That seemed to work on her.

"Hey, what's up? You look really distraught."

Serena looked at her. "Oh, its nothing really. I'm just nervous about Ash in the battle. We've already seen how good Lyra is. They would make good rival, I guess."

That's what she was looking for. The other reason Verity walked over here. To see how screwed she was. "Hey, Serena? Has anyone else besides the mystery person, gone after Ash?"

Serena got a little red. "Well, Miette was into him for like a week, That was years ago. She's decided to put her efforts into being smarter than everyone else."

"Seems it worked," Verity laughed. "But what are even going to do when you find this mystery person?"

"I don't know," Serena said, sadly. "I feel like the best option is to just never let it get to the point where its a problem. I decided I'm going to ask him soon."

"Like, tonight!" Verity screamed, drawing a few heads their way.

Serena shooed off the other people. "Oh, no, not now. He's got this to win. It probably won't happen until after Holiday. Ash is staying at my place because of a family thing, so I can't really do that then. It's be weird."

Verity heard that, and died inside a bit. He was staying with her. That settled it, she would have to try something tonight. It was the only way. She had an idea, not a great one, but it might work. Might.

"No, Meganium!"

The plan of Ash's had worked. By the third rollout, Togekiss was down, leaving only Meganium. Ash's donphan kept its energy going, and Meganium unleashed solar beams on Pikachu. Pikachu was about to get hit by a fatal blow, when Donphan came in with a powerful rollout and one-hit ko'd Meganium. Ash was declared the winner.

Many other battles passed by. Nathan made it to the final round, along with Ash. Nathan's power with Quiver and Ampre was incredible. Ampre was taking hits, while Quiver set up, and then Quiver came in with bug buzzes and scalds all over the place.

"Attention everyone! The final battle, between Nathan, and Ash, will now begin!" The two trainers sent out their pokemon, which they both have seen. Ash was ready, a bit more than Nathan was. Besides, the typing was in Ash's favor, with the exception of scald.

"Ampre, get in position. Quiver. Start." Quiver began to set up, and Ampre stood there, protecting it.

Ash saw this coming from a mile away. "Pikachu, fire a thunderbolt over Ampre to hit Quiver! Donphan, rollout!" Pikachu fired a thunderbolt over Ampre, way to high to block, even by jumping.

"Ampre, dragon pulse, in the air. Then use fire punch on the mouse." Ampre did exactly as ordered. The dragon pulse landed on the thunderbolt, blocking it from Quiver.

"Just as planned," Ash said grinning.

Nathan realized what he had done. "Crap, I messed this up. Good thing I won't have to double battle in Johto. Quiver, dodge quickly and use scald!" Quiver realized the intensity of the command, and got out as quick as possible. This unfortunately, couldn't save Quiver. Donphan landed a second rollout on Quiver shortly after the first one. The huge type advantage on Quiver was enough. Quiver was down. "Ugh," Nathan said. "You did well Quiver. Ampre, discharge!"

Ampre let out an electrical attack that spread throughout the entire hall. It was by far one of the strongest discharges ever, clean knocking out Pikachu. Amidst the chaos, a command sounded. "Donphan, earthquake!"

Donphan shook the room, hitting Ampre. Ampre's weak defenses were its ultimate downfall. "Ampre is unable to battle, which means Ash and Donphan win!"

Nathan looked at his defeat, as he returned Ampre. _Well, I guess that was unfortunate. Sure is nice that double battles won't happen in Johto. Johto! I need to go!_ Nathan started heading out the door. _Wait, I should say bye to Verity first. Wait, why? That means nothing to me. I guess it's tradition, or something. We'll go with that. For some reason, it'd feel odd to not. Why can I know so much about others, but nothing about myself? I'm a mess._ Nathan went back to go say bye to Verity, for reasons he had not figured out. No one had.

Slightly earlier:

The final earthquake was called, as Serena watched in joy, happy her future boyfriend was going to win it all. Wait, was that to harsh? Was she allowed to think that?

On the other side of the room, Verity looked at Serena. Her plan had the uncontrollable conditions locked in place. Now it was her turn. As she was watching, her eyes locked with Serena's as the ground began to shake. _I'm sorry,_ she mouthed to her, as she fled her line of sight.

"Ampre is unable to battle, which means Ash and Donphan win!"

It was time to act. Now or never.

Serena waited on the side, for Ash to return. It would be bad to startle him with anything. Besides, she would have to keep the whole crush thing under control for the next few weeks, or being a home with him would be way to awkward.

Verity had other plans. She ran out to Ash, who was returning Donphan, and gave him a huge hug, which caused Serena to nearly scream. Somehow, she managed to keep her cool. _We have to live together for three weeks. Don't be stupid._

Verity wasn't done. She sat there, next to Ash. Most people were watching them. "Verity, what was that about-" Verity stopped his words.

(If you want a serious reading, read the next paragraph and skip the following, if you don't want one, skip the next paragraph and read the following one. I will warn you now.)

She looked at him as he spoke. _I have to do what I can, or it will be over._ She pressed her lips against his, and held them there for a couple seconds. She let go, and ran off, kind of happy, kind of scared, kind of guilty, but mainly relieved she did it. Now, Ash just had to come around to her. Although, Serena was still fuming. Scared might be the right answer after all.

*clears throat* Think about it, people. How do you stop words if they didn't intend to stop speaking? This isn't hard. She kissed him. The paragraph above, and this one, shouldn't even exist. I shouldn't need to write this. Disappointing. Although, bet you didn't expect me to drop this down. Ha.

Returning to our regularly scheduled program, with the conflicted Hoenn boy.

Nathan observed this, from about 10 feet back. He watched Serena storm out, and Verity run out. All of the sudden, leaving felt significantly easier.

* * *

 **Well, I said I'd be gone awhile. April's here, so I am back a little more. I don't have much to say down here, but thanks for reading. Means something to me. I'll be a bit because I need a new The Secret Mega chapter out before this next one here, so see you then.**


	12. Different Directions

**I'm back, I promise. I think.**

 **The next two chapters are going to encompass Holiday. It's important, so just uh, I forgot where I was going with this.**

 **Anyway, here's post-small-climax:**

* * *

Chapter 12: Different Directions

Nathan entered the airport. He opened a screen on the side, where Professor Birch was. "Hey," was all he said.

"Nathan! I've heard about your wonderful time at Anistar High! Are you here for a transfer?"

"I am. Anistar's a nice place, but it's no Mauville, that's for sure. Now, I need a transfer, or four."

Birch seemed confused. "What's the rush? Can't you only have one pokemon there?"

"Not if I'm travelling to Johto to get eight badges there," Nathan said in reply.

Birch was surprised, but pleased. "Well, that's good. I'll send you whatever you need."

Nathan pulled out his list. "I currently have Ampre and Quiver with me. I'll need Pyro, Spike, Glacial, and Foren."

"Foren? Are you sure?" Birch was concerned for a good reason. Foren, was not an ordinary trainer's pokemon. No one took a marcactus with them. It was out of the ordinary to try and make a challenge with such an underused pokemon. In fact, most people chose to use weaker pokemon that had more potential.

"I know what I'm doing. That egg couldn't have been for nothing." Nathan was confident in his response.

"Foren and Quiver are going to have to rough it. I'm surprised you never took Foren to train with you at Anistar," Birch commented. It was true too, Nathan had never taken Foren to train, but Nathan was always confident in its abilities.

Nathan decided to conclude the argument. His pokeballs had come through, and he needed to board the flight. "Foren has never lost a battle. I don't have a reason to think it would change."

"Very well," Birch said, "Best of luck to you!" They exchanged goodbyes, and signed off. Nathan began for his flight. He hadn't thought back to Anistar since he left the place, until now that is. He distinctly recalls the events to when he left at the Formal. It irritated him that it had happened, but why? The only conclusion he could think of was that it had disturbed the order of events. Things were not going to happen that way, and he had missed a sign that things would change. Maybe his mind wasn't as trained as he thought. That had to be why, nothing else could explain it.

The flight took off. He looked at the Kalos region. It was pretty nice, expect for the mass amount of forest. All the towns seemed very separated from this perspective. Every region has its problems.

* * *

The time was now 12:30 a.m.

Verity was still hiding from Serena. The Formal was scheduled to end in half and hour, and she knew she'd be able to escape in a large crowd. Of course, what was she scared of? Serena? Unlikely. She decided to head for the exit. Maybe leaving early was best for her, to beat out the mass rush of students she was going to rely on until about 12 seconds ago.

Rookie mistake there.

Serena was waiting at the exit, but in tears. She couldn't handle the sight of seeing Verity do that. Verity looked down at the crying Serena. "Serena-"

Rookie mistake again. Never talk to the upset person.

"How could you!" She shouted. (Is that supposed to be a question mark there? If so, How do I put down emphasis without doing that weird double punctuation thing?)

Verity couldn't even speak. She didn't know what to say. "I-"

"You what? You think you can just show up here, and try and take him away from me? I can't believe it was you! You lied to me! I asked you all if it was any of you, and I trusted all of you! I don't care we aren't a thing yet, but you just put us way behind, and that's your fault! What did you even expect to get out of all of this?" Serena was fuming now. Verity had never seen someone go from sad to furious that quickly.

Verity tried to start. "Look, just let me finish whatever I have to say."

"Fine," Serena said.

"Look, I know you trusted me. I know I shattered that trust. I'm aware that I'm the reason you and I are both out of Ash's sight, arguing over him, instead of being happy for his victory. I think that I still had a right to what I did. Seeing you makes me regret what I did a bit though. I made the wrong choice. I hope there's a way I can make it up to you, that doesn't involve me losing him," Verity was trying to be sincere even though she knew it wouldn't work.

"I don't care, Verity," Serena said. "You took him. Why did you have a right anyway?"

"I, well, you two weren't really dating. I don't think he actually likes either of us. But there was no sense in me just giving it up. I haven't met anyone who just gives up a crush for a friend, successfully."

Serena replied flatly, "Miette."

"Miette?" Verity asked.

Serena sighed. "We both took an interest in Ash at the beginning of this place. Not this year, before you got here. Anyway, she said to me, 'Serena, if we don't deal with this, our friendship will collapse...

 _"Serena, if we don't deal with this, our friendship will collapse," Miette said._

 _"I know," Serena said, upset._

 _"We both have goals, and Ash can help one of out better than the other," she said smiling._

 _Serena looked at her smile. It wasn't sly or mean, but truly compassionate._

 _"I think he'd be better with you, Serena. And I want to help you. What do you say?"_

 _"Thanks, Miette."_

"But you," Serena said, "you only cared about yourself. All my hard work is down the drain now, because of what you did. I hope you're happy, Verity, because you just created the most awkward three weeks I'll ever have to deal with." Serena went outside, leaving Verity alone, again.

Verity was now thinking back to what she did. She remembered deciding to help herself here, but why did she decide that? She couldn't remember. She realized that she really did throw away Serena's hard work. Was what she did the right choice? Was even coming here the right choice? Maybe it wasn't too late to ask for a transfer for the final semester. Verity was really upset now.

Bad time to be upset though. Ash walked out of the hall just now. "Verity, have you seen Serena?"

Verity pointed between sobs. "She's really upset. Please fix what I did."

Ash looked at the crying girl. "You don't seem so great yourself. I just have a question. Why did you, you know, do that?"

Verity sniffled a bit, then looked up. "Please tell Serena everything I am about to say. She won't hear it from me. So, I did it because I liked you. For a while, and I just couldn't stand Serena having you to herself for three weeks. But I messed up. Big time. I threw her work out. Everything I did tonight was just one big mistake, and I regret all of it. Please tell Serena, and let her know I'm sorry. I hope our friendship isn't tarnished forever."

Ash looked at her. "Why is Serena so upset about this?"

Verity shook her head. "Let her tell you."

"Uh, ok," Ash said, going outside. He was truly clueless in what he was supposed to do. This hadn't happened before. Luckily he didn't need to really tell Serena what Verity said.

She listened in and heard all of it.

Ash went out, to see Serena, who was still pretty shaken up. "Hey, uh, what's up?" Ash could tell something was wrong, but he wasn't sure why Serena was upset about this. Although before he could say anything else, Serena ran up to him and nearly suffocated him with a huge hug.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this. I shouldn't have gotten mad," she said. Now Ash was just super confused on what to say. "I heard what she said. It reminded me of when Miette told me she'd-" she quickly remembered who she was talking to- "uh, forget that."

"Why were you so mad at her? I mean, I'm not saying I wanted that to happen either, but I don't think it's like you to get upset at that."

Serena was put into a corner. Now, she was in a corner, but the corner's still metaphorical. "I, uh, you said you didn't want it?"

Ah, the classic trick of turning the conversation around.

"I think Verity's a nice person, but I don't think something like that with her would work. Although, I think the training sessions are going to be much more awkward now."

Serena laughed. "You think, huh?" They both laughed. Then, they just kind of looked at each other. Their eyes locked in on each other. Serena was still holding onto him, so, for you aspiring physics people, the radius of separation was pretty minimal, and their heads were close together. They just kept looking at each other, until, finally, Serena closed the gap between them. They held that kiss for a while. When they finally let go, Serena looked at him again. "Did you like that one better?"

"I, I don't know," Ash said. "Better? Yes, but I'm not sure if-"

Serena stopped him. "It's ok. Just, take your time." She was a bit more upset. She was starting to regret what she did now, too.

"No, it was fine, don't feel bad," Ash said. Just then, Miette stepped out.

"Dance is over, so we have to-" She saw them. "Great, now I have to drive you lovebirds all the way back to Vanville Town."

Serena and Ash waved her off. "It's nothing official."

Miette smirked at them. "Nothing, yet. Now, get in. The rush is coming."

The car ride was pretty silent, after a quick conversation about what Nathan was going to tackle the Johto region with. They all heard he was taking a marcactus, which is a pretty bold move. "Hey if Nathan can train up Quiver that quickly, I'm sure the marcactus he's raised from an egg will be great!"

"He raised it from an egg?" Miette asked. "Intriguing."

"He did," Ash confirmed. "I just hope that Foren does well. Don't you, Serena? Serena?"

Serena was sleeping on Ash's lap. He just let it happen.

"Ash," Miette said.

"Huh?"

"I see the way you look at her," Miette went on. "Why don't you say something?"

"Well," Ash started, "It would be weird to be dating while I'm staying at her house for Holiday."

"I agree," Miette said. "Well, that's good that you two have the same plan."

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

* * *

The plane landed, and Nathan stepped out. "Well, here it is, Cherrygrove. I should be at Violet City by tomorrow afternoon. I'll have to move fast." He looked out at the lake, reflecting the moon on it. It reminded him of a lake he researched. The one in Sinnoh, by whosawhatsit town. _Oh wait, Lake Verity. I did like that lake. I'd like to go there in person one day, to meet its guardian._ _That's why I want to go. Why am I so confused now? Ok, focus, I have some gyms to sweep._ With that small conundrum, he kept going, despite the lateness. When he was leaving, he observed something land in front of him.

Lyra.

"What could you possibly want?" he asked, irritated.

Lyra had just noticed him. "Oh, you actually came here. Guess I was wrong."

"I don't think speculating anything about me and Verity would be fair, considering anything you think is wrong."

Lyra winked. "They do call me the match maker. If you need my help, just tell me."

Nathan laughed back. "I don't need help with her, Lyra."

Lyra stared at him, suspicious. "I didn't say what you needed help with." At this, she flew off on the togekiss she flew in with.

* * *

 **So I finished the chapter. It seems the beginning of the plot is solved. Let's see what happens.**

 **Why is Nathan confused?**

 **Why is Lyra in Johto?**

 **Why is Miette so sure of herself?**

 **What will Verity do now?**

 **Find out next time (please note not all questions will be answered next chapter. Actually, I don't think any of them are.)**

 **Leave a review if you liked it, I guess. Also, since no one's actually reading The Secret Mega, I'm just going to put that on hold. This is most certainly a priority. You're welcome.**


	13. Holiday

**I'm back. Now, let's hurry this story along before I disappear again.**

 **Also, I have a plan for once I'm done this. None of you will see it coming. Most of you won't even see it. Eh.**

 **Oh, right, the story.**

* * *

Chapter 13: Holiday

The boat had finally arrived. Why Sinnoh was so far away was one question Verity had right now. She decided that it'd be beneficial to go visit her mom during Holiday. Of course, that would imply her mom had time. Being champion of Sinnoh and all, she was always busy. What if Nathan had chosen to fight her? Surely she would have won, right?

Verity grabbed her bags and went home. No one was there at the time. Not like she expected anything else. But there was somethign there that she didn't expect:

 _Hi Verity,  
Welcome home! I'll be back tonight, and I'm looking forward to spending time with you!  
-Mom_

Maybe she can answer some of her questions. Maybe.

* * *

They finally pulled up to Serena's house. "I'm on my way back to Santalune City. I'll see you two in two week," Miette said, as she went back to her own home.

"Uh, now what?" Ash said, slightly nervous.

"I guess we should go inside," Serena said. "It's pretty cold anyway."

Things have been getting more and more awkward for the two since the kiss last night. Ash was relieved that she as truly asleep on the ride back. He wasn't very prepared to tell Serena anything. He wasn't sure if anything was actually there. To be honest, what he said to Miette was a 'spur of the moment' kind of thing. Oops.

They started to go inside, but they began walking to the house, the door opened. "Serena! Ash! So good to see you!" Serena's mom seemed very nice. That was good, for Ash.

They went in and talked for a bit. "So I heard about the large increase in transfers this year, Serena. Have you met any of them?"

Serena tensed up slightly. She still wasn't sure if she could completely forgive Verity. She was getting those mind lessons from Nathan still, so what if she was using those to her advantage? What if she was just tricking her with that apology? But how did she know she'd overhear? So many questions, and not all of them could be solved. "Uh, well we met two, but Ash knows much more about them. He should explain."

Ash didn't appreciate being thrown under the bus, but he decided to just start. "Well, we did meet one kid named Nathan. He's in Johto for Holiday getting all the gym badges, so he can be champion within a week of his graduation. He spent most of his year training a member of his team named Quiver. Really nice pokemon."

"Good at battling, huh?" Grace said.

"Not just that," Ash went on, "he's working to become a leading psychic, or psychiatrist, I think. He can basically read a mind without them speaking. It's pretty cool. The other one is a girl named Verity, who's rooming with Serena."

"She is?" Grace asked. "I thought you had your room picked."

"Well we did," Serena said, "but the school let us use the five person room to include her. They said we'd be a good influence."

"That's wonderful," Grace said. "Ash, you know, her friend Miette is very smart." She went on like Ash had no idea what she was talking about, even though Ash understood all of it. "She's top of the class, and she and Serena have been friends for such a long time. They even liked the same person at one-"

"Mom!" Serena shouted. She was pretty certain Ash didn't know, but she didn't want him finding out.

"Oh, sorry, forgot you were here," Grace said, laughing. "Well, why don't you show Ash where he can put his stuff down. And Ash, if you'd like, you're more than welcome to transfer some of your other pokemon over here."

"Thanks, Mrs. Yvonne," Ash said.

"Please," she said, "call me Grace."

Ash and Serena went upstairs. Before they got to Ash's temporary room, a small bird landed on Serena. "Hello, Fletchling." she said.

"Fletchling!" the bird called back.

After that short encounter, they arrived at the end of the hallway. "So, uh, this one is yours. Feel at home I guess." She wasn't sure where they were in terms of friendship, or relationship. It was a very awkward time. Very. "I'll uh, just go unpack my stuff."

Ash was alone now. He could tell Serena is confused. In his defense, so was he. What was the thing Grace said? They both liked the same person? Could he contact Miette, or was that too personal of a question? He needed someone to consult. But who would be the person to consult? Her? It was about her, so that was out. Lyra? Ash hardly knew her, and she was in Johto, and he couldn't contact him. Oh no. It's not the only option right? Seems it is.

Looks like he'll have to find a time to contact Gary.

* * *

"The battle between Nathan of Mauville Town and Whitney of Goldenrod City will now begin!"

"Foren, go." Nathan was calm. With two badges under his belt already, he was cruising much faster through Johto than he had anticipated. Of course, Pyro had fly, which made it easier.

The maractus stood, ready to go. On the other side, an clefairy. "Metronome, it's a grass type." Whitney said. Metronome was a risky option, but it did have a great chance, since five types were superior to grass. The clefairy moved around the field for a bit, then, the roof acted as it opened up. Only, it didn't. Nathan smiled at this.

"Perfect. Growth."

Foren took the sun into its arms, and seemed even full of more energy. "Let's use this speed to out advantage, Foren. Petal blizzard. I want this over quickly."

Foren unleashed a storm of petals in the direction of the fairy-normal type. Without a chance to move, it collided, and instantly knocked it out.

"It's no surprise that you've gotten this far this quickly," Whitney said. "Of course, you'll deal with my strongest now. Miltank, I need you!" She sent out her ace, the cow that no one likes. Nathan laughed at it.

"Time to be awful. Growth." Foren absorbed more of the sunlight, and was now even stronger.

Whitney observed this move. "That was a mistake. Miltank, start rolling." There it was. Rollout. The move everyone hated. The cow rolled at a faster than normal speed, and managed to hit Foren.

Nathan saw the hit. "Foren, is that damage?" The maractus nodded in reply, with a smirk on its face. "Giga drain, friend. I don't like having to heal." Foren unleashed a powerful giga drain, knocking out the miltank in one hit as well. Foren absorbed the health, and was ready to go."

Whitney watched in horror as she was easily beaten. No effort at all. "Sniff... just take the badge and go!" She threw the square thing at Nathan and ran off. Nathan picked it off the ground and looked at it, and the person he just upset. He stared at her.

"Eh, she'll be over it in five minutes." He took two pokeballs out when he left the gym. One returned Foren, and the other sent out a dragon. "Pyro, we need to hurry to our next location. Morty. I'll need your crunch there."

* * *

Cynthia arrived at her house. It was not too late, which was good. Her daughter was home today, so she requested that no challenges were made after noon. "Hey, Verity," she called out upon entering. When she went in, her daughter was at a window, looking outside. The house was near a park, and this was one of the more common spots for couples to be at. "What's wrong?"

Verity did not have the motivation to just spill the beans. After all, her mom was hardly home and this was just a special occasion. "Mom, how did it feel when you took the champion title from the other person?" It was a semi-direct way to answer her question.

"Well," she said, "it hurt a bit, but he said he was honored to lose to someone as strong as me. We're still good friends, of course, and there aren't any hard feelings anymore. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," Verity said. "It's pretty late. I think I'll go to bed." And she did, kind of. She spent a while looking out at the town, which was now dark. If her mom could challenge someone for a title that mean a difference between a few zeros in salary, why was she upset that she tried to date someone who was evidently single? She was truly sad about doing that to Serena. What if she found another way around it. She didn't want to do it, but it seemed like it came down to no other option. "Where is it..." she said to herself, as she opened up a presentation from school on her laptop. "There it is," she said. She looked at the title screen.

 _Why water types are the greatest_  
 _Opinion presentation by Verity, Dawn, Nathan, and Tierno_

"That was his name!" she said in a whisper, and opened up a notebook. She didn't think it would be necessary, but Oak suggested it.

 _You should get the phone numbers of your groupmates, so if you need to meet outside of class to work on the project, it would be easier to organize._

What a wild idea. She dialed the number next to Tierno. This was a last ditch effort, and she knew it had the best chance of working. She hoped her knowledge of time zones were right, and she wasn't waking him up. "Hello?" he said, picking up the call.

"Are you in bed?" Verity asked nervously.

"Uh, no. It's 7:30 pm here." Thank goodness.

"Ok great. Remember when we were working on the project, and you said something like, 'if I tried to charm Serena, it would work. Trust me,'?"

"Of course," Tierno answered. "And I still hold true to that, if you would let me. I get you're friends, but I get to have freedom too! This is redicul-"

"Tierno. I'm letting you try. She's in Vanville." Verity had officially set her last resort into action.

"Convenient," Tierno said. "So am I."

* * *

"Ash, come on!" Serena begged.

"Ok, fine, only because you keep asking." Serena blushed at his reply. She had spent all morning trying to get him to take her ice skating. They went to the park, with skates they got from Serena's house.

They went skating together. Serena went every winter, so this was no problem for her. Ash, on the other hand, was struggling. Like a lot. Serena decided to herself that if she was brave, she could make progress. "Here," she said nervously, "Take my hand."

Ash was reluctant at first but grabbed her hand. They both turned a light shade of red.

Now, keep in mind this is the middle of winter. Light shades of red are not noticeable when the sun is constantly reflecting off the white snow on the ground. Oh, right, it's snowing.

Tierno observed them skating. "What do I do," he said to himself. "I'll dance her into my arms!" he concluded. As he went over, he got hit by a snowball. A certain couple was waiting for him there. "Hey, Tierno!" Trevor said. "How about a battle?"

Tierno sighed. "I guess I have no choice but to do it later." He truly wanted Serena, but how does he get in the way enough?

* * *

 **I did it I wrote more.**

 **Next up is the Christmas Special. I'm quite aware that it's April. I don't need to hear it from any of you.**

 **As always, let me know what you thought, and if you have a question, I'll answer it. Just lemme know what you wanna know and I'll know what will make you know what you wanna know. Tricky to understand?**

 **I know :)**


	14. Holiday- the Holiday (In April)

**Get ready for the greatest (not really) Christmas Special of all time.**

 **I received a review from Guest (thanks) predicting something about mistletoe. I wasn't considering it, but we'll see now.**

 **Anyway, I'm done rambling. Let's get going.**

* * *

Chapter 14: Holiday- the Holiday (In April)

"Kids," breakfast will be ready in 10 minutes!" Grace shouted from downstairs. After a while she heard no response. "Fletchling, go wake the kids up."

Grace has pretty much adopted Ash into her home. It's been over a week, and the events of the Winter Formal have glazed over. Everyone was bright and cheery, and ready for a fun day, as soon as they actually woke up.

Ash has been enjoying himself here as well. Him and Serena had gotten closer, but more as friends. Was this a problem? He wasn't sure yet. Gary had some intense researching for Oak to do over Holiday, so he wasn't actually available. Shame. Anyway, he and Grace got along well. He even screwed up a few times, calling her 'mom'. He's gotten over that, for the most part.

Fletchling flew upstairs, and noticed both kids asleep. (In different rooms, don't get excited) It was confused. He always went for Serena's room, but now there were two. Where does he go first? He concluded on Serena's room. If a system ain't broke, don't fix it. He flew in and landed on Serena's head, who was still sleeping. He then did the thing he learned how to do- peck.

Ash was a heavy sleeper, but woke up when he heard a scream from down the hall saying, "I told you not to wake me up like that!" Ash ran down over to Serena's room. He didn't go in, but outside the door asked, "Are you ok in there?"

Serena ran out. "Yeah, I'm fine, it was just Fletchling. Wow, you came quickly."

Ash turned a bit red. "Uh, reflexes, I guess. I think your mom said breakfast was ready. I'll be down soon."

"Ok, see you there!" Serena said, smiling at him. Ash went over to the bathroom first. He looked at himself in the mirror. _Christmas is tomorrow_ , he said. _You need to get something._ He had to find a time to get out of the house without Serena. They'd done everything together for the whole time, so getting to be alone would be an issue. Then, an idea popped into his head.

At breakfast, Grace asked them, "Hey, what are you two doing today?" Well, what a way to start. The question implied he was going out to do something with Serena, how does he take it and move it the other way around? She can't know what he's getting her, mainly because he doesn't know yet.

Then, he got an idea. It was a bold move, but it might work. "Actually," Ash said. "I was going to train. I was thinking about challenging the Santalune Gym before I go back. If you don't mind, I work well training alone."

Serena looked hurt. Why wouldn't he want to spend Christmas Eve with her. Maybe they weren't so close after all. He couldn't know her stress from hearing that though. She could never interfere with his dreams. "Oh, well, ok. I hope you do well."

Well, it worked well. Kind of. He got what he wanted- a day alone to look for presents. He was certain he could beat the Santalune Gym. It was an easy one to do, and the leader there only uses two pokemon. Pikachu would do great. The only downside is now he'd have to go through the day knowing Serena was hurt. Crap.

* * *

Nathan landed in Blackthorn Town. He couldn't believe this timing. He still had five days to beat the gym and make it back to Kalos. It was a dragon gym too. Pyro would do well, and Foren could take the kingdra. Maybe moonblast would have been useful. Oh well.

He went into the pokemon center, to take a small break before moving on, when someone approached him. "Are you Nathan?" they asked.

"Yes, why are you here?" he asked brutally.

"I have a call for you from Sinnoh. You know anyone there?"

Nathan shrugged. "No one of significance. I guess I'll take the call. Could be urgent."

"She said it was urgent."

"She? No matter, hand it over," he demanded. He pulled up the screen to see a too familiar face. "What could you want? I have a gym battle in an hour."

"Wow, hello to you too," Verity responded. "I thought you'd be done by now."

"I was planning on it," Nathan said, "but I had to rescue some slowpoke from a gang. Don't ask."

"Ok, mister hero," Verity teased.

Nathan stared her down. "You called, saying it's urgent. What is it?"

Verity laughed. "Oh, that. I just did it because it was the only way you'd pick up. I guess those mind reading lessons are working."

Nathan's eyes widened slightly. "That's not how were they were supposed to work, but ok. I'd like to train soon, so please, put the flirting aside and tell me what you wanted."

Verity got red. "I'm not flirting, you know who I like."

Nathan pointed out, "Did you not give up?"

"No," Verity said. "I thought I did but I regressed. I guess I wasn't over him. I just don't want to put Serena through that again, so I made a better strategy."

"Oh?" Nathan asked, curious.

"I'm having Tierno flirt with Serena. I think it's going well, but I really don't know. I'm hoping Ash will get mad and leave Serena. What do you think?" Verity was truly in need of answers.

"Won't work," Nathan said blatantly. "Too indirect. Honestly, there's nothing you could do that would work but also not tarnish your friendship with Serena. I say you just figure out your priorities. Take a risk, or don't. Depends on what you want. But think about this: What will actually help you?"

Verity stared emptily at the words that he just said. Nothing. Should she tell Tierno to stop? What does she do form here? "Uh, thanks."

Nathan nodded. "Can't believe I had to tell you that, but alright. Now, why did you call?"

Verity scowled at him. "I just wanted to say 'Merry Christmas' to all my friends."

Nathan nodded again. "Ok, seems you did what you needed to do."

Verity sighed. "You really need to get out more."

"I'm literally travelling a region."

Verity sighed again. "I give up. Goodbye," she said as she hung up.

Nathan looked at the dark screen. "That was weird. Well, time to go."

"You're not going anywhere," a different familiar voice said.

"Of course you're here. Please Lyra, I have a battle to go to." Nathan was getting quite annoyed.

"Well," Lyra said. "I'm just saying that tomorrow's Christmas. If you want to tell her how you feel, now would be the best time to do it."

Nathan looked at her. "So, what you are saying is if I like her, I should tell her now?"

"Yes!" Lyra said. "Call back and tell her! What are you waiting for?"

"You're right," Nathan said. "What am I waiting for?" he said as he walked out the door. Lyra stood there, facepalming.

* * *

Ash went to the stores in Santalune to find something. Pikachu was with him, unsure of why they weren't training. "Well," Ash told his friend, "I want to get something for Serena, but it would kill the surprise if she went with me, so I needed an excuse to get out. You're welcome to train by yourself." Pikachu thought about it, then decided to get back on Ash's shoulder.

He looked all over. There was literally nothing. What would peak her interest? He thought about getting her a new hat, but that didn't make much sense. He had no idea what a girl wanted. This was hard.

He walked into another store. It was a decorating store. There were ribbons, and some other things. Ash sighed, hopelessly. He had been out for hours with nothing to show. And to top it off, Serena was upset he ran off this morning. What a catastrophe. He looked at presents he had gotten so far, well, the one. It was a bottle of ketchup for Pikachu. Nothing else. He remembered Serena suggesting that to him.

 _"Serena, if I was to get something for Pikachu, what would I get?"_

 _"Well," Serena said, "He likes ketchup, right? Why don't you get him that?"_

How was it that easy? She literally pulled that answer out of thin air. Maybe if he did the same thing, then it would work. What did Serena like?

Performing.

Her friends.

What else? There had to be something else. Then he remembered. What Miette had said in the car. That was it! That was the answer!

He ran over to the register. "I'll take the ribbon up there," he said, handing over the sufficient funds.

"That's it?" the cashier asked.

"Uh, and that pen," Ash said.

* * *

It was Christmas night. They were all done getting all the presents that had been giving out.

Serena had gotten a cool hat from Shauna, and a book from Miette. But the best thing she'd gotten was a dress from her mom. "It's for when you start performing," she said.

"But I thought you said-" Serena started.

"I gave it a second thought," Grace said, cutting her off. "You've been trying very hard lately, and I think you deserve a chance."

Ash had got a few presents from his family in Kanto, but since not everyone knew he was not in Kanto, he didn't get a lot. Seeing this, Grace stood up. "Ash, I think I forgot to get you something."

"That's ok," Ash said. "I didn't-"

"No," she said, "I had something picked out. I wanted you to always have Kalos with you, so I got you this." She handed him a pokeball. Ash threw it, sending out what was in it, a froakie.

"It's one of the starters here in Kalos," Grace said. "This one in particular loves to battle, so I know it will be just right!"

"Wow," Ash was speechless. He then got up and went to his bag, which had one box left in it. Pikachu was currently enjoying his ketchup he had received. Ash pulled out the small box, and handed it over to Serena. "Uh," he started, "I got this for you. Sorry I was gone all day looking for it, but it would have ruined the surprise if you had known."

Serena realized why he was gone. "That's ok Ash. I forgive you." She opened up the box, to reveal a blue ribbon. "Oh! It's beautiful, I love it! Thank you, Ash!"

She then realized there was something in the ribbon. A piece of paper, that read:

 _Meet me in the park in 20 minutes  
_ _-Ash_

Serena looked around. She just realized Ash was gone. Clever boy.

"Well," said Grace, realizing the time, "I think I'll turn in. It's late." She then went up to bed. Serena sat there, for ten minutes, anticipating what Ash was doing there. Was he finally going to say something? Was her conflict with Verity truly over? She sure hoped. She liked Verity, she was a great friend, but what she did was lowkey unforgivable, and you can't forgive someone for that.

* * *

"Ash?" Serena called to what appeared to be an empty park. "I'm here."

"Over here," called Ash, who was sitting in the pavilion. "I'm glad you made it. It would have been really awkward if you didn't."

"True," Serena laughed. There was then a period of awkward silence, which Serena broke. "So, uh," she started, sitting next to him. "Why did you, you know, call me out here?"

Ash was quiet for a moment, then responded. "Oh yeah, that." He then leaned over to Serena and pressed his lips up against hers. Immediately, she grabbed the back of his head, implying they'd be there for a while.

That was fine with Ash.

That was the goal, anyway.

After a solid few minutes, Serena finally let go. "So," Ash said, "Did you like your present?"

Serena got red. (Please recall from the snow scene last chapter that the weather determines whether or not the other character catches the blush. It's nighttime, so don't count on it.) "Well, uh,"

 _No, Serena. This is what got you into the problem with Verity in the first place._

"I loved it," She said quietly. "What made you think of it?"

Ash looked at her. "You really want to know?"

"Yes!" Serena said, excited.

"Well, so I was looking for a present for you, and I couldn't think of anything. Then I remembered that you just pulled the ketchup idea for Pikachu out of thin air, because you said he liked it. So," Ash went on, "I thought, 'What does Serena like that her friends and family won't think about?'"

"You," she answered quietly.

"I know," Ash said.

* * *

 **Well, this looks like an inconvenient time to wrap this up.**

 **Few notes:**

 **1\. Did you really expect Nathan to do something? You've learned nothing about me if you did.**

 **2\. Please remember the whole froakie thing is ok because the events of XY/XYZ never happened, aka Ash never got Froakie.**

 **3\. The story is far from over. This was a small climax. Also, once this is done, I'll do the Secret Mega again, which you should read. I think it'll be good once things get going. Also, once this story is over, I'll announce my plan for after that.**

 **As always, like comment, and subscr- crap hold on...**

 **As always, feel free to leave a review and smack that 'follow' button, or that 'bookmark' button. Support is appreciated.**

 **See ya'll soon.**


	15. Holiday 3, Electric Boogaloo

**Woah, here's a first. I have some real reviews to answer!**

 **From: Guest- Wait are they a thing now?**

 **Uh, its still that awkward phase, just phasing out. Read it to figure out more.**

 **From: Dragon King Ryouga- Will the Forakie Ash got become the Greninja we all know and love?**

 **Eh, sadly, no. There isn't enough room in this story to build ANOTHER character, and the way this story is formatted, a sequel would be hard to write- a challenge I'm not up for.**

 **So, with those cool questions out of the way, let's keep moving.**

* * *

Chapter 15: Holiday 3, Electric Boogaloo

"I know," Ah said quietly, causing a shock from Serena.

"You did? What?" Serena was confused as to how this happened. How in the world did her oblivious crush figure that out?

"To be honest," Ash said, "and don't get mad at her, but Miette told me while you were asleep on the ride back from, you know, that place. "Anyway, about your little present-"

"I meant what I said," Serena said. "All of it."

Ash looked in slight confusion. "So, uh, what now?" He was right. While the gift was a great idea and all, it now left this void. If he thought they were a thing, then it probably wasn't, knowing his luck. And knowing his luck, she'd probably be mad if he thought otherwise. He was at an impasse, so his question put the burden of that question on Serena.

Serena looked at him, still with dreamy eyes. "Uh, well, I don't know."

Not quite the response he was going for.

So, Ash decided to just go for it. "I guess, do you want to be, you know, a thing?"

Literally as soon as Ash finished speaking, he was nearly tackled by the girl hugging him. "I've been waiting for that for as long as I can remember!"

They kind of stayed on the ground for a while, until a park security person told them it was too late to be in the park. What a mean person.

* * *

"Breakfast is ready!" Grace called. The date was December 26th, according to the Gregorian Calendar. Much to her surprise, the two kids in her home came downstairs on time. They sat at the table like good kids. This made Grace very confused. She knew something was up. They were both heavy sleepers. She never bothered to ask how either of them woke up at school, because any answer would have just seemed outrageous. So, she knew for a fact there was definitely something going on here. She looked at the two of them, sitting at the table next to each other. "Alright, you two. What's up?"

Serena and Ash had already decided to tell Grace as soon as the time was right. This seemed like a pretty good time. "Mom," Serena started, "please don't be mad..."

"We have something you should know that happened last night..." Ash went on. They both looked at each other and nodded. Then, they put their hands on the table- Serena's right and Ash's left. Grace noticed immediately that they were holding them together.

Grace nodded. "You know, I thought I would always be mad when you brought a boy home, Serena. But I knew Ash was different the instant his mom told him about me. To be honest, I saw this coming. It was sort of, well, one of the reasons I let him stay here." Serena and Ash both blushed at this. "Well, enjoy your breakfast!" she said cheerfully.

"You're not mad, Mom?" Serena asked.

"Why would I be? Ash is a fine boy," Grace answered. "You two have fun today. And remember, you two are still young, so I don't want any of that-"

"Mom, I get it!" Serena interjected, stopping her mom from finishing.

* * *

Nathan stood outside the pokemon league. "This is it," he said to himself. He looked at the eight badges he now owned. "After school, I come right here, and then I'm golden. Imagine how much time I get to train before that time. This will be easy." As he finished reflecting, a togekiss landed from the sky. "You've got to be kidding me," he said.

"Nope!" Lyra answered. "This time I brought someone who wanted to see you. She claimed she had a question. Maybe you have a question for her."

"Wonderful," Nathan said. "A question for someone I don't know the identity of. Perfect."

"She is perfect for you," Lyra went on. Nathan's eyes narrowed.

"Of course you brought her," Nathan said. "I saw it coming, but I wanted to make sure. Now that I know, I'm out." He sent out Pyro, and mounted him.

Lyra ran over. "Wait! Please, Nathan. Just talk to her."

"No can do," Nathan said. "Have to be at the airport in three hours."

Lyra snickered. "I don't have to read minds to call out a bluff. It only takes thirty minutes to get there. Don't trick me in _my_ region."

Nathan sighed. "Fine, I'll stay." He returned Pyro after dismounting him. "But don't forget I don't want to do this."

"Why not?" A voice called out. Nathan looked over to the lake, and noticed a brown haired girl riding a lapras. Verity got off and returned Lapras. "Thanks for your help," she said to her pokemon. "Now," she said. "I need to get to the point here. League's only letting me stay for half an hour. Listen, I have important information and a follow-up question."

Nathan looked at her for about a second. "Ash and Serena are dating, you aren't over it, and you set someone up to sabotage ad now you aren't sure if that's right. In an effort to stop this, you decided to communicate with the least sociable person in the school. Smart choice."

"I hate when you do that," Verity muttered.

"If I was to offer advice," Nathan said, "The best bet is," he stopped for a second. "Seems you already told Tierno to stop. I don't see a problem anymore. Goodbye, and see you in two days. Lyra, thanks for thinking I could do it that quickly. Seems I could." He mounted Pyro and left.

Lyra turned to Verity. "He likes you."

Verity scoffed. "Where'd you get that crazy idea?"

"He just said that you aren't trying to get Ash anymore, or at least stopped what you were doing. He then said there wasn't a problem."

Verity laughed again. "That's a stretch. Wait, I didn't tell him that it was Tierno. Ugh! I hate him when he does that!"

"Yep, you totally like him," Lyra said. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing," Verity said, "because I don't!" She was angry now. "This is your fault! You let me take those lessons from him! You let me go to the Formal with him! You didn't stop me when I did, that thing, to Ash! You live to watch the world burn around you. You are surprised Nathan did eight badges in less than two weeks! I thought I was the person bringing Serena down! I spent _my_ entire holiday, upset, that I was ruining her life. No, it wasn't me. It was you! It was always you! What's your deal?"

Lyra was quiet for a while, then sighed. "Do I live to see drama? Yeah. Should I have stopped you at the Formal? Yeah. I wanted you to live a little, that's all. I realize now that my way of life isn't best for everyone else." The looked at Verity. "But there's one thing I have a reputation for. I have never been wrong at predicting a relationship. What you and Nathan have, is something special." She threw out her togekiss. "But only if you do something." She then mounted it. "See you soon." With that, she flew off into the sky.

Verity was left alone on the floor of the Johto League steps. That's the second time in a month she's lashed out at one of her friends. She thought about one thing she said to her in particular. Not the line she thought she would be thinking about, but the one she was nonetheless.

 _You are surprised Nathan did eight badges in less than two weeks!_

It was weird. Nathan was weird. He was right. He didn't deal with people if he didn't have to. He was brutally honest, and, well, overall pretty mean. But he still agreed to train her piplup to the point where it evolved. She still went to him for lessons to read minds, something she thought she was getting good at until just now. She thought Lyra set this up on purpose to torment them. But she had good intentions. Why did all of this not work? Because until now, she had done things for Ash, not herself. Maybe now it was time she did something for herself.

She sent out her lapras. "Come on, bud," she said. "It's time to go back to Kalos."

* * *

Lyra landed in the airport. "Hi," she said politely to the man at the desk. "I have a ticket for a flight to Kalos."

"Just over there," the man pointed to where she needed to go.

"Thank you so much!" she said nicely back. She went to the terminal and boarded her plane. She sat down next to someone she knew. She looked at him. "I'm sorry."

Nathan looked back. "Eh, I'm over it. That's what no one gets. They don't stay calm, and that's everyone's downfall."

"You're allowed to be upset every once in a while," Lyra said. "But I mean to talk about Verity. Why did you agree to help her train?"

"Quiver needed help. If you noticed, I swapped him out when he was ready."

"Ok," Lyra said. "Why did you agree to give her lessons?"

"I knew even with honest teaching her plan to get Ash wouldn't work. It was merely a way for me to improve teaching. I'm glad she finally noticed that." The last sentence was a bit quieter.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lyra asked.

"I have something I plan on telling her in a few months. About the lessons."

"What?" Lyra asked, curious.

"Well," Nathan said. "In the beginning of the year, I told Serena and Verity in our math that calculus would be my stepping stone for greatness. What I meant was that in the more novice math classes, you get taught things that aren't accurate. Things that don't make sense, because realistically the teacher was lying to you about the fact that the concept you were learning was correct and useful. I used calculus to understand real things. I also learned that people will believe anything that is taught to them."

"You mean-"

"Yup," Nathan said. "The lessons I gave her were not real. They were not to be able to read minds. I never intended on that. I respected Ash and Serena. Serena came to me first, in the form of paper, saying I was right. So, in return I preserved their relationship, and it seemed to work. What happened at the Formal was expected, but of course, never at that caliber. That just means I have some things to learn too." Nathan was pretty flat about what he said, but it meant a lot.

The rest of the plane ride was silent until they reached Kalos. "I don't keep secrets," Lyra said. "I'm awful at it. I'll make an exception for this one."

* * *

Miette pulled up on the return day to Anistar. She pulled up, and waited in the car. Ash and Serena left her house holding hands, which Miette took note of immediately. "No funny business in my car," she said to the two of them, as they got in.

"Yeah we get it," they said at the same time, causing them to laugh.

* * *

 **So uh, this took a while. Two words. AP Exams. I had four of them to take, so I took pretty much two weeks off.**

 **This story is going to wrap up faster than you think. I'm thinking two or three more chapters. Probably two.**

 **At the end of the last chapter, I'll announce my big plans I have in the workings.**

 **Until then, leave a review, leave a question, leave a follow, or hit the follow, or whatever you do to follow or review.**

 **See you soon, maybe.**


	16. FallingInto Place

**No reviews. Huh.**

 **Well, let's get on with the penultimate chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 16: Falling...Into Place

It was now June. Graduation was tomorrow. Things had gone pretty well.

Nathan had the team ready to take on the Johto League. Nothing would stop him from achieving his goal now.

Verity gave up on Ash. It seemed like the right thing to do. Besides, maybe Lyra had a point. Maybe.

Ash and Serena were doing fine. They were now getting back from their final mini-golfing match with Trevor and Shauna. "I can't believe you beat us every time this year," Trevor said, a bit angry.

Shauna laughed. "Did you notice they started doing better after they started dating?" Everyone laughed at this remark.

It was true, though. Everyone took the news very joyously, and congratulated Serena on achieving the impossible. It really made their friend group closer too, because everyone seemed to be holding secrets. Now, they were all transparent, which was nice. "Well," Serena started, "we're done, well, tomorrow."

"Yeah," Shauna said. "We'll keep in touch afterward, right?"

Serena laughed. "Hopefully we won't have to. I'll see you at a bunch of showcases, right?"

Shauna nodded. "Oh, right. Well, we should keep in touch anyway. Especially with May, who's going back to Hoenn after this."

Serena sighed. "Tomorrow's gonna be the last day we see a lot of people here. I'll miss all of them."

"Well, you won't be missing one," Shauna said, gesturing to Serena's boyfriend.

"Hey!" Serena said, then wrapped her arms around Ash. "I'll miss him the most."

Just then, a shout came through the door. "Oh my gosh! You're literally seeing him tomorrow, and like, every day after that! Just let the boy sleep. I'm sure he's tired."

"Sorry, Miette," Shauna said, opening the door. "How's the speech going?"

"We better get going," Trevor said to Ash, who nodded in reply. "See you tomorrow," he said to Shauna, smiling.

"Yeah, see you, Serena," Ash said. The two exchanged a quick kiss, and then Ash left.

"Speech is going fine, I guess," Miette said. "Had I remembered I'd have to speak in public, I don't think I would have gone for this."

"What's the issue?" Verity asked, laying on her bed.

"So many censors," she said. "I can't say, like, half the things I want to. This sucks."

"Can't you appeal?" May asked.

"Yeah," Miette moaned, "but that would require speaking to people."

Verity stood up. "I've caused enough trouble this year. Let me fix this for you." She walked out of the room.

Serena tilted her head. "What trouble?"

"Uh," May said, "the Formal?"

Serena sighed. "Oh. Right."

* * *

Verity darted down the hall. She knew exactly how to appeal to the board for Miette. She just had to make it before they closed, which was in an hour. She had time, but didn't want to cut it close. That would be an issue. "Better keep moving," Verity said to herself as she ran. "What if someone like Nathan was in my- there he is."

Nathan stood outside the hall. "Hi." He seemed tense.

"Nervous about your battle?" Verity asked.

Nathan chuckled slightly. "Oh, that? Of course not. I couldn't feel more prepared for that."

Verity was confused. "Why are you looking like you're about to die then?"

Nathan sighed. "Because I might considering what I'm about to tell you." He looked at her. "You know how I've been teaching the psychic stuff to you?"

"Yeah," Verity said. "Of course. What's up with it?"

Nathan twiddled his thumbs. "Well, not exactly any of it was accurate. What I taught you was how to read Ash's mind. And anyone else who acts and thinks exactly like Ash." He laughed a little. "Everyone got what they wanted anyway, right?" He then realized his error. "Oh, right. Except you."

"Why didn't you just teach me normally? Wouldn't that have helped you in the long run?" Verity was pretty angry right now.

"Nope," Nathan answered. "Too risky. I have secrets that you wouldn't want to have figured out."

"Oh," Verity mocked. "Does everyone's favorite human android have a crush on someone?"

"Eh, sort of."

Verity laughed. "Classic. This is purely a classic. Tell me. I'm great with secrets."

Nathan's eyes widened in disbelief. "Ok. First of all, you chat just as much as Lyra. You are awful with secrets, and considering the events of the Formal, you suck at keeping your own. Second of all, I don't think you'd want to hear this one."

"Why's that?" Verity asked, still laughing a bit.

"Because," Nathan said slowly. "I-It's you." The hall became silent no one else was in it, except for one person walking past to her room.

She noticed them, and started running off. The sound of Lyra's voice came from the person. "Holy crap it's happening. Holy crap!" The voice died off.

Verity spoke again. This time her voice was more concerned that anything else. "This is a joke, right? Another test? Tell me it's another test."

Nathan shook his head. "Nope. I'm done containing secrets."

Verity was quiet, taking it all in. In an effort to stop the silence between them, she said, "So you meant you actually felt prepared for your battle?"

Nathan threw his arms out in disbelief. "I stand here, telling you something that's hurt me for months, and you change the subject as quickly as you can? Guess Lyra was wrong about you. You are still the immature new girl I met on the first day. Shame I even thought anything else. I ruined my year. Oh well, when I'm champion I'll be the most powerful trainer in the world. Sorry I wasted your time." He started to walk away, until a hand grabbed his arm.

"Wait!" Verity said. "After Ash and Serena got together, I really did give up on him. You seemed like the only person I could turn to, so I went through so much to get allowance onto the Johto league area. I even told the guards I was visiting my boyfriend. Look, what I said a minute ago was just to kill silence, honest. But after I gave up on Ash, I knew I had to see you." Nathan wasn't moving at all.

"I didn't know why at the time, but after you left I blew up at Lyra. I wasn't sure how I could yell at my friend like that. But she said something I noticed right after she said it."

Nathan spoke up finally. "Something about how she's never wrong about relationships?"

Verity nodded. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

Nathan looked at her, and smiled and then chuckled a bit. "Just read your mind. Saw you were hoping I actually stayed after I left. Truth is, the girl's unoriginal. She told me the exact same thing on the plane ride back. But you don't need to keep going. I know where you're going with this."

Verity smiled. "I'm thankful. I was at a loss for words."

Nathan smiled back at her. "With me around, you don't have to speak as much."

They looked at each other for a bit, then Verity ran into Nathan's arms, who greeted her. They held the hug for a bit, then Verity looked at him. "Well, this is awkward, but I have to get to the appeal board. I sort of am helping Miette out with a speech thing."

Nathan looked at Verity. "Let me go with you."

* * *

Verity came back to their room, all smiles. She noticed there were already five people in her room. "Congrats," Lyra spoke up.

Verity blushed. "Uh, thanks, I guess."

Miette growled. "Ugh! I guess I'm writing the stupid censored speech then? All you relationships are really killing me this year."

Verity smiled at her. "Actually, the board said you were free to write whatever you wanted."

Miette gasped. "Anything? How did you appeal so well?"

Verity smirked. "Let's just say my new boyfriend's about to be champion of the Johto league. But I have one request." She looked at Miette. "Can I help you write it?"

Miette smiled. "With what you did, of course."

* * *

 **Haha I tricked you this chapter was under 2k words. I think the amount of plot here would be enough.**

 **The final chapter will probably be short too. Maybe even shorter than this one. The notes will be much longer. Also, there won't be plot in the final chapter, until the end. It will be different than anything I've written here in the past.**

 **So review with praise, or review flaming me for writing a short chapter. Truthfully I'm done letting hate reviews get the best of me. Which is nice, because my announcement of future plans might piss off a few people :)**


	17. The Longest 5 Minutes of Her Life

**We made it, well, I made it. I guess you made it too.**

 **Here's the final chapter. I hope it's good enough, because it probably isn't.**

* * *

Chapter 17: The Longest 5 Minutes of Her Life, and some other stuff

Miette sat in a chair, on the backside of Oak. She could spot all her friends in the rows. She saw Shauna and Trevor, holding hands. She saw Ash and Serena, holding hands. She saw Verity and Nathan, holding hands.

Did she have time for relationships? Probably. But right now, she could feel it. She was at the top. Everyone predicted it at the beginning of the year, but when her friend circle started to fall apart, she noticed that her own grades had fallen short of her own standards. Sure, she couldn't read minds, but her academic excellence was nothing to be rivaled.

It was funny how her friends acted this year. They had known each other for so long, but still held secrets. Of course, she had her own at some points. She was glad it was all resolved at the end though. Even her problem, despite the uncertainty, was solved last minute. She had Verity to thank for that one.

Eh, enough chatting to herself. It was go time.

In fact, she nearly missed the announcement. "And now, as the top of our graduating class, the Valedictorian, Miette!" She could hear the formal applause from everyone. She slowly rose and looked at everyone. It was silent, and the only thing that was going to break the silence was her voice, well, here it goes.

"Welcome everyone. I want to first thank my friends Verity and Nathan for getting the filter off my neck for this speech. Yeah, it's not filtered. If you get offended, I might be sorry.

This year has been a real roller coaster for me. I started out fine. It was the beginning of another ordinary year. My friends and I finally got the room arrangement we wanted, and we even saw that our schedules were pretty similar. Consider this the top part of the hill, right before the first drop.

The first drop happened around the time we really got to know two new additions to our friend group. We learned of them could practically read minds, and the other one was so shy at first she hardly wanted to be talked to. Was it good to have them? Sure, it made things easier, I guess. But what really got me thinking when writing my speech was those two.

I figured out very quickly that power is a dangerous thing. If one person has too much power, then all of the sudden, everyone else seems to target that person, to suppress that power. Do people have secrets? Yeah, of course, and sometimes that isn't a bad thing. But now, secrets were all over the place. And our friend group had one or two, specifically two, that really brought us down, and nearly tore us apart.

What's the point in keeping secrets? Odds are, any secret you've kept in the past was either vanished into irrelevance or was exposed. Besides, when one of your friends can read minds, the secrets are out before anyone's ready to kiss and tell.

Speaking of kissing and telling, the events up to the Winter Formal could be that light part, the straight little line before a whole wild series of twists and turns. Everyone was happy, but for my group, they knew something was coming. In fact, I knew something was coming. Did I do anything? No. Why? Because interfering seemed wrong at the time. Truthfully, I thought it would all die out, but it never did. It felt like that roller coaster car kept moving past the station, and in for another round.

Then, Holiday came. It's a time of happiness and love and togetherness, and for the most part, it was. It was truly a time of bliss. I guess the stress of the year ended there. I was notified of this, so my academics, while maintaining my high standards I set for myself, were off to a close. I was notified shortly after a few events in Vanville Town, that my friend group would have two less big secrets to hold onto. That was very reassuring to me. Right now, that roller coaster car just started to roll up the chain part, where it picks you up for another round, but then it just rolled right back.

So why did I tell you about my school year, and use fancy words to make you pity me? Heck, I wasn't even involved in a lot of it. But the thought of losing my friends was stressful to my academics, but I still prevailed. And I bet, all of you had similar experiences. Maybe not the exact same, but stuff that stressed you out. Stuff that threw you for a loop or a sharp turn. But most importantly, you are all still here. I look out to my peers here, and I can safely say, that while you all might not know me, I know all of you. I've heard of a lot of your stories, and I've heard of a lot of your struggles. Yet, you are all still here.

In conclusion, I want to thank all of you. For putting through it all, even if you didn't realize you did. Even if you were one of the like, two remaining people in my friend group without a companion, you still contributed. Even if, all I said to you in four years was a simple, 'hi,' you contributed. Not to me, but to keeping this graduating class together. Thank you."

As she stepped down, there was a roar of applause. Serena looked at her and smiled, still holding Ash's hand. She noticed a few tears from kids in the audience, and the graduating class.

* * *

It was over now. Everyone was even done taking pictures with all their friends. Miette was still talking with some people, astounded by her speech. When she finally left, she saw Serena. "Hey."

Serena ran and gave Miette a hug. "Thanks."

Miette was confused. "For what?"

"For giving up Ash," Serena answered. "Imagine if you never did. You would've never done, well, that!"

"I hate public speaking," Miette said. "But what you and Ash have is special. I would never have let you give that up. As for me, I found my priorities. I'm glad you found yours, finally."

* * *

 **Plot starts here**

* * *

"Come on!" called Serena.

"It's so early in the morning though," Ash replied.

Serena laughed at his laziness. "Ash! You are supposed to meet with Nathan at noon! How are you gonna get there in time if we don't leave now?"

"I'm sure he's heard the news, considering how much you and Verity still talk," Ash mocked.

"If I'm not allowed to tell her that my fiance is the champion of Kanto, I'm sorry," Serena mocked back.

It was about 5 years later. Nathan got champion as early as he planned it. Lance was out by the time Nathan had only lost three of his team members. Ash and Serena were on their way to tell the happy couple in Johto that Ash had beat the Kanto champion, and was now the top in his respective region as well.

* * *

"I heard about your completion of the Kanto League," Nathan said.

Nathan had finished his psychic training, and has used his methods for greatness. Verity now held a gym position in Johto, after Pryce's retirement.

"Yeah," Ash said. "My battle wasn't as great as your champion battle, but it was the best one I did."

"Oh, you haven't heard," Nathan said slyly to Ash.

"Huh?"

Nathan put his feet up on a chair. "I sort of went home to Hoenn for a bit. Beat Steven there as well."

"Wow," Ash said. "Guess you're moving fast."

"I am," Nathan said. He looked at Serena and Verity, who were entering the room now. "I guess it's nice that we still find time for those we love."

"Agreed," Ash said.

* * *

 **Did I do it? Is it done?**

 **Yeah it's done.**

 **No, this story is not getting a sequel. I have bigger, better-ish plans.**

 **I want to start by saying this story was one hell of a ride. I got some pretty nasty reviews at the beginning. (Take that, I completed a story) I decided to keep going because I wanted to prove I could. By the end, I was so eager to finish, and I finally got the time to.**

 **Speaking of time, I'm pretty much gone all summer. So what does that mean? It means I'll be inactive for the summer. I am going to start writing my next few stories, but I won't be posting. I'll upload them with space probably around when classes resume.**

 **New stories? What's next?**

 **So glad you asked, concerned reader. If you look at my current stories, I am only in the Pokemon community. I have a one-shot (amourshipping), a finished story (amourshipping), a train wreck (amourshipping), and The Secret Mega.**

 **That's an interesting story, but I'm pretty sure no one's even read it. So, if I get some reviews, I might continue it. But I have another story that will take priority. As that story goes up, I will do the occasional amourshipping one-shot. What's the next one-shot? It's gonna be called _Clemont, Please?_ It's gonna be after the events of XY 80, and Bonnie decides to set them up.**

 **But as I said before, I'm only in the Pokemon community. So here's the official announcement. I'm branching out. Woo.**

 **If you all remember a wonderful cartoon from the old Cartoon Network. That's right, it had 5-7 seasons (the number is debated but by technicality its 5), featured a super large main cast, the Total Drama series. You'll hear stuff about that later.**

 **Anyway, what I'll be writing for that is my next big story, Total Drama: Karon Island. It's got 20 OC's, all made by me, who duke it out for another million.**

 **If you don't like that idea, well, tough. That's what I'm writing, and if you want to check it out, feel free to. It's gonna be the best thing I've written, because I'm actually going to revise it this time. Oh yeah, everything I've written up to this point has never been looked over once. Heh.**

 **So in conclusion:**

 **1\. I'm branching out to Total Drama Series.**

 **2\. I will post occasional one-shots for amourshipping**

 **3\. I will not be posting in the summer**

 **I want to thank all of you who gave their support from the beginning.**

 **Guest (you know which one)  
TheShapeH31  
Dragon King Ryouga  
Amourshipper35**

 **Thank you for all your support especially. Your reviews were what really kept me going. I hope to get similar support in my future endeavors.**

 **So, leave your review for the chapter, and the whole story, or your opinions on my future plans. I'd love to hear anything.**

 **With that, this is Tempokeep, signing off until, probably September.**


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